UNIT I: Introduction To Physics: Lesson 1.1. Measurement in Physics

UNIT I: Introduction to Physics
Chapter 1
Lesson 1.1. Measurement in Physics
Why do we need to measure?
System of Units
1. the Metric System

mks (meter-kilogram-second)
cgs (centimeter-gram-second)
2. the English System
• also known as foot-pound-second (fps system)
International Systems of Units
• Abbreviated as SI
• Le Systemè International d’Unités (Fr.)
• It is the system of units that the General Conference on Weights and
Measures has agreed upon and is legally enforced in almost all parts
of the world.
International Systems of Units
1. Fundamental Quantities
• are basic quantities which are independent of one another
• Example: length, mass, time, temperature, electric current, luminous
intensity, and amount of substance.
2. Derived Quantities
• are combinations of fundamental quantities.
• Example: speed, acceleration, density, work and energy among others.
SI Fundamental Units
Quantity Unit Symbol Definition
One meter is the distance traveled by light in vacuum during a
Length meter m time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second.
One kilogram is the mass of the standard platinum-iridium

Mass kilogram kg cylinder kept at the International Bureau of Weights and
measures in France.
One second is the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of
Time second s radiation corresponding to the transition between two
hyperfine levels of the ground state of cesium- 133 atoms.
One kelvin is the fraction 1/273.16 of the triple point of water.
Temperature kelvin K
One ampere is the constant current flowing in each of two long

parallel wires, 1.0 m apart, that would produce between these
Electric Current ampere A wires a force equal to 2 newton per meter of length of each
wire.
One candela is the luminous intensity in a given direction of a
source that emits a monochromatic radiation of frequency 540
Luminous Intensity candela cd Hz and that has a radiant intensity in that direction of 1/683
watts per steradian.
One mole is the amount of substance that contains as many

Amount of Substance mole mol atoms or molecules as there are atoms in 0.012 kg of carbon-
12.
Scientific Notation
• Scientific Notation is a convenient and widely used method of
expressing large and small numbers.
N x 1024
Express the following in scientific notation.

1. The speed of light is approximately 300 000 000 m/s.
2. The mass of a strand of hair is approximately 0.000 000 62 kg.
3. 0.000 646
4. 5 430 000
SI Prefixes
SI Prefix Symbol Multiplier SI Prefix Symbol Multiplier
yotta- Y yocto- y
zeta- Z zepto- z
exa- E atto- a
peta- P femto- f
tera- T pico- p
giga- G nano- n
mega- M micro- μ
kilo k milli- m
hecto- h centi- c
deca- da deci- d
Conversion
• The simplest way to convert one unit to form a conversion ratio (equal
to one) with the desired unit on the numerator and the unit to be
converted at the denominator.
Convert the following:

1. Convert (a) 55 km to meters and (b) 12 g to kg. Express your answers in scientific notation.
2. The SI unit of force is the newton, N. One newton of force gives a 1.0 kg body an acceleration
of 1.0 m/s2. 1 N is equal to 1 kg·m/s2. A small unit of force is the dyne. 1 dyne is equal to 1
g·cm/s2. How many dynes are there in 1 N?
3. Convert a density of 2.79 g/cm3 to kg/m3.
UNIT I: Introduction to Physics
Chapter 1
Lesson 1.2. Uncertainty and Error
Analysis
ACCURACY vs. PRECISION
• ACCURACY refers to the closeness of a measured value to the
expected or true value of a physical quantity.
• PRECISION represents how close or consistent the independent

measurements of the same quantity are to the other.
SCI BIT
Did you know that from 1972 t0 2016, there were
28 times that a minute became 61 seconds?
The time indicated by atomic clocks and the mean
solar time differ because of the irregularities in Earth’s
rate of rotation about its axis. When the difference
between the two times approaches 0.9 seconds, the
International Earth Rotation and Reference System
Service (IERS) based in France issues an order to add a
second in all time pieces worldwide in order to keep the
time of a day close to the mean solar time. This one-
second adjustment is termed as the leap second.
ERROR
• The uncertainty in its value.
• It is the deviation of a measured value from the expected or true
value.
• The amount by which the measurement can be more or less than the
original value.
RANDOM vs. SYSTEMATIC Errors
RANDOM ERRORS
• results from unpredictable or inevitable changes during data
measurement.
SYSTEMATIC ERRORS
• this errors usually come from the measuring instrument,
experimenter or in the design of the experiment itself.
Percent Error
When there is an expected or true value of a quantity, percentage error (or
simple percent error) is usually calculated .
Formula:
Percent error =
where:
– measured value
– true or accepted value
Percent error is usually considered in judging the accuracy of a measurement.

Percent difference
Percent difference is a measure of how far apart the different measured
values are from each other, and is therefore an indication of precision.
Formula:
Percent difference =
where are two measured values in an experiment.

Sample Problem
1. Two trials were performed in an experiment to determine the latent
heat of vaporization () of water at 100°C. The values of of water
obtained were 532 cal/g and 536 cal/g. Find the percent difference
between the two values.
Given: LV1 = 532 cal/g LV2 = 536 cal/g

Sample Problem
2. Referring to Sample Problem 1, find the percent error for each
measurement if the accepted value of of water at 100°C is 540 cal/g.
variance
Another way to estimate errors from multiple measurements of
physical quantity is to determine the variance of the set of
measurements.
Variance measures the squared deviation of each number in the set
of the mean.
Formula:
Variance
MEAN
Take the mean of the set of measurements by adding all the quantity
divided by the number of all the added quantities.
=
Standard deviation
• The square root of variance
• It is a measure of how diverse or spread out are a set of
measurements from their average.
The measurement of of a physical quantity in a
set of measurements is usually reported as
Sample Problem
1. During an experiment in a physics laboratory class, a group of five students
was asked to measure the period of a simple pendulum. Their
measurements were as follows: 2.3 s, 2.4 s, 2.2 s, 2.5 s, and 2.1 s. Determine
the (a) mean, (b) variance, (c) standard deviation, and (d) measured period
of the pendulum.
2. In an experiment, 10 trials were done to determine the range of a projectile.
The measurements for the range of the projectile in centimeters are as
follows:
134.8 133.9 135.1 134.7 135.3
134.9 135.2 134.8 135.5 135.4
Determine the (a) mean, (b) variance, (c) standard deviation, and (d)
measured range of projectile.
ABSOLUTE & RELATIVE
Uncertainties
Uncertainty
• indicates the range of values within which the measurement is
asserted to lie with some level of confidence.
• is quantitative measure of how much your measured values deviate
from a standard or expected value.
ABSOLUTE Uncertainty
• Has the same unit as the quantity itself.
Example:
The resistance of a wire is (25.00 .
The absolute uncertainty is 0.05 . This means that the resistance of the
wire ranges from (25.00 – 0.05) to (25.00 + 0.05) or from 24.95 to
25.05 .
RELATIVE/PERCENT Uncertainty
• Is dimensionless and is obtained by dividing the absolute uncertainty
by the numerical or measured value.
• The quotient is usually expressed as percentage by multiplying it by
100%.
Example: From the same problem
Thus, the same resistance may be expressed as 25.00 0.2%.

The ABSOLUTE UNCERTAINTY of the
measurement shows how large the error
is, while the RELATIVE UNCERTAINTY
shows how large the error is in relation to
the true value.
Sample Problem
1. The speed of an ant was measured to be v = (3.05 ± 0.02) cm/s. Find
(a) the absolute uncertainty and (b) relative uncertainty of the speed of
the ant.
Solution:
a. With v = (3.05 ± 0.02) cm/s, the absolute uncertainty is 0.02 cm/s.
b. Relative uncertainty =
Sample Problem
2. The measurement of the volume of an object is 1.53 m3 ± 2.5%. Find
the absolute uncertainty.
Solution:
Absolute uncertainty = m3 = 0.03825 m3 0.04 m3
The best way to come up with a good
measurement of a physical quantity is to get
independent measurements of the same thing. The
mean or average of these measurements
represents the best estimate, while the range may
be obtained by getting the difference between the
lowest and highest values. The uncertainty is one-
half of this range.
• Mean =
• Range = Highest value – Lowest value
• Uncertainty =
Sample Problem
1. During an experiment in physics laboratory class, a group pf six
students was asked to measure the height of a cylinder. Their
measurements were as follows: 5.25 cm, 5.27 cm, 5.26 cm, 5.24 cm,
5.23 cm, and 5.36 cm. what is the height of the cylinder?
Solution:
Mean = = 5.27 cm
Range = 5.36 cm – 5.23 cm = 0.13 cm
Uncertainty = = 0.065 cm 0.07 cm
Sample Problem
1. The measurement of the thickness of a physics book is (5.3 0.1) cm.
(a) What is the best estimate of the thickness of the physics book?
(b) What is the range of the values of the thickness of the book? (c)
Express the thickness of the book using relative uncertainty.
Solution:
a. The best estimate of the thickness of the book is 5.3 cm
b. The thickness of the book could be from 5.2 cm to 5.4 cm
c. The thickness of the book is
5.3 cm () x 100% = 5.3 cm 2%
Rules apply to calculations involving data
with uncertainties
• If data are to be added or subtracted, add their absolute
uncertainties.
• If data are to be multiplied or divided, add their relative uncertainties.
• For a number raised to a power, fractional or not, multiply the relative
uncertainty by the power.
• For a number to be multiplied by a constant, multiply the number and
uncertainty if it is absolute. Only the number is multiplied by the
constant if the uncertainty is relative.

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UNIT I: Introduction to Physics

1. the Metric System

One kilogram is the mass of the standard platinum-iridium

One ampere is the constant current flowing in each of two long

One mole is the amount of substance that contains as many

Express the following in scientific notation.

Convert the following:

• PRECISION represents how close or consistent the independent

Percent error is usually considered in judging the accuracy of a measurement.

where are two measured values in an experiment.

Given: LV1 = 532 cal/g LV2 = 536 cal/g

134.9 135.2 134.8 135.5 135.4

Thus, the same resistance may be expressed as 25.00 0.2%.

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