Chapter 1

Measurement
1 Measurement

• Scientific Notation
Important
• Significant Figures
Topics
• Chain Rule
• Error, Uncertainty, Error Propagation
• Accuracy, Precision

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1-2 Measuring Things

• Physics and engineering are based on the precise measurement of

physical quantities (mass, time, length, pressure, etc.).
• We measure each quantity by its own “unit” or by comparison with a
standard.
• A unit is a measure of a quantity that scientists around the world
can refer to.
• A standard . This has to be both accessible and invariable.
• For example; 1 meter (m) is a unit of length. Any other length
can be expressed in terms of 1 meter.
• A variable length, such as the length of a person’s nose is not
appropriate.
• Base quantities:
• Seven fundamental quantities.
• Three are needed for mechanics: length, time, mass.
• All have been assigned standards.
• Are used to define all other physical quantities.
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1-3 International System of Units

• If you want to communicate about your measurements with others in

the world, you need to agree upon some Standard Units of
measurements.
• SI Units used to be called MKS system of units. In this course we will
use International system of units (SI or Système International). It is
also known as metric system. • Scientific notation uses
the power of 10.
• 3 560 000 000 m =
3.56 x 109 m.
• Sometimes special names
are used to describe very
large or very small
quantities (Table 1-2).
• 2.35 x 10-9 =
2.35 nanoseconds (ns)

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1-3 International System of Units


Length, Mass and Time, units for these parameters are regarded
as base units. (SI base units are m, kg, and s)
• Units for other parameters are
defined in terms of these base
units and are called derived
units
Joules (work-energy): 1 J = 1 kg m2/s2
Watts (power): 1 W = 1 J/s = 1 kg m2/s3

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1-4 Changing Units, Chain Link Method

• Based of the base units, we may need to change the units of a given
quantity using the chain-link conversion.
• Generally it is done by multiplying original measurement by a
conversion factor.
• For example, since there are 60 seconds in one minute,
1min 60 s
=1= , and
60 s 1 min
60 s
2 min=(2 min) x(1)=(2 min)x( )=120 s
1 min
• Chain-link conversions:
•1.3 km x (1000 m)/(1 km) = 1300 m = 1.3 x 103 m
•0.8 km x (1000 m)/(1 km) x (100 cm)/(1 m) = 80 000 cm = 8 x 10 4 cm
•2845 mm x (1 m)/(1000 mm) x (3.281 ft)/(1 m) = 9.334 ft

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Example: Chain Link

in one single line!

Light year in meter

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1-5 Lengths

• Unit of length: “Meter” was originally defined in terms

of the distance measured along the earth’s surface
between North pole (point A) and Equator (Point B).
• 1 meter ≡ AB/10 000000
• Eventually, a more accurate standard was needed, and
by international agreement the meter became the
distance between two marks on a bar of platinum-
iridium alloy kept at 0 °C.
• Today meter is defined as the distance traveled by light
in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a
second.
•This definition arises because the speed of light is a
universal constant and is defined to be 299 792 458
m/s.

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1-5 Lengths

Some examples of lengths

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1-6 Time

Any standard of time needs to be able to answer:
•When did a thing happen?
•What was its duration?
• Standards of time in the past have included:

•Rotation of Earth
•Quartz vibrations
• Atomic clocks (cesium), with time signals sent out by radio so others
can calibrate their clocks. One second is the time taken by
9192631770 oscillations of the light (of a specified wavelength)
emitted by a cesium - 133 atom.

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1-6 Time

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1-7 Mass

• Today one kilogram is defined to be the mass of a standard cylinder of

platinum-iridium alloy, kept at the international Bureau of weights and
measures in Sèvres, France.
• The atomic mass unit (u) is a
second mass standard.
•It is the carbon-12 atom,
which, by international
agreement, has been assigned a
mass of 12 atomic mass units.
•1 atom of Carbon-12 is
assigned a mass 12 u
•Used for measuring masses of
atoms and molecules
•1 u = 1.660 538 86 x 10-27 kg
(+/- 10 x 10-35 kg) Error bound

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1-7 Mass, Density

• Mass per unit volume is called density.

• Density is typically expressed in kg/m3, and is often expressed as the
Greek letter, rho ().

• Calculate . . .
•Density of material: (18 kg) / (0.032 m3) = 560 kg/m3
•Mass of object: (380 kg/m3) x (0.0040 m3) = 1.5 kg
•Volume of object: (250 kg) / (1280 kg/m3) = 0.20 m3

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1-8 Accuracy, Precision

• Accuracy is how close a measurement is to the correct value for that

measurement.
• Exact/Correct value: 11.0 3 significant figures (sf)
•Measurements: 11.1, 11.2, and 10.9. These measurements are quite
accurate because they are very close to the correct value of 11.0.
• The precision of a measurement system is refers to how close the
agreement is between repeated measurements (which are repeated
under the same conditions).
• Uncertainty: A ± δA
• Percent Uncertainity:
% unc = δA/A ×100%

Low precision. High precision.

High accuracy. Low accuracy.

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1-8 Scientific Notation

• Scientific notation is used to express the very large and very small
quantities. Non-zero numbers are significant! (but with care)
•Example 1: 0.00035 (two significant digits)
•Example 2: 0.000325400 (six significant digits)
•Example 3: 2500 (two significant digits)
•In general, trailing zeros are not significant.
•In other words, 2500 may have 4 significant figures
•but usually 2500 will have only 2 significant figures!
•When in doubt, use scientific notation 2.500 x 103 or 2.5x103
•Example 4: 3560 000 000 (three significant digits)
•Example 5: 356.00 (five significant digits)
• Scientific notation employs powers of 10 to write large or small
numbers
• Significant figures are meaningful digits. Generally, round to the least
number of significant figures of the given data (see next slide),
• 25 x 18 → 2 significant figures; 25 x 18975 → still 2
• Round up for 5+ (13.5 → 14, but 13.4 → 13)
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Example: Significant Figures

Addition, Substraction: round to the least precise place of the given data
3.0+11.01=14.01 –> 14.0
Multiplication, Division: round to the least number of significant figures
of the given data

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Example: Chain Link

4 sf

4 sf

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Example: Uncertainity. Error Propagation

c±δc
Minimum
division is 1 Uncertainity in Result.
mm in ruler. Simple Expression: δa+δb !

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Example: Uncertainity. Error Propagation

We generally round uncertainties to one significant figure anyway,

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Example: Uncertainity. Error Propagation

How many sf?

a±Δa
2 sf?
b±Δb
3 sf? 4 sf?

2 sf √
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
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1 Solved Problems

1. Spacing in this book was generally done in units of points and picas: 12 points =
1 pica, and 6 picas = 1 inch. If a figure was misplaced in the page proofs by
0.80 cm, what was the misplacement in (a) picas and (b) points?

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1 Solved Problems

2. Travelers reset their watches only when the time change equals 1.0 h. How far,
on the average, must you travel in degrees of longitude between the time‐zone
boundaries at which your watch must be reset by 1.0 h? (Hint: Earth rotates 360°
in about 24 h.)

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1 Solved Problems

3. A lecture period (50 min) is close to 1 microcentury. (a) How long is a

microcentury in minutes? (b) Using

find the percentage difference from the approximation.

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1 Solved Problems

4. Earth has a mass of 5.98x1024 kg. The average mass of the atoms that make up
Earth is 40 u. How many atoms are there in Earth?

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February 16, 2022 PHY101 Physics I © Dr.Cem Özdoğan
1 Solved Problems

5. Gold, which has a density of 19.32 g/cm3, is the most ductile metal and can be
pressed into a thin leaf or drawn out into a long fiber. (a) If a sample of gold, with
a mass of 27.63 g, is pressed into a leaf of 1.000 μm thickness, what is the area of
the leaf? (b) If, instead, the gold is drawn out into a cylindrical fiber of radius
2.500 μm, what is the length of the fiber?

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1 Summary
Measurement SI Units
 Defined by relationships to  International System of Units
base quantities  Each base unit has an
 Each defined by a standard, accessible standard of
and given a unit measurement
Changing Units Length
 Use chain-link conversions  Meter is defined by the distance
 Write conversion factors as traveled by light in a vacuum in
unity a specified time interval
 Manipulate units as algebraic
quantities
Time Mass
 Second is defined in terms of  Kilogram is defined in terms of
oscillations of light emitted by a a platinum-iridium standard
cesium-133 source mass
 Atomic clocks are used as the  Atomic-scale masses are
time standard measured in u, defined as
mass of a carbon-12 atom
Density
 Mass/volume

Eq. (1-8)
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1 Measurement

Additional Materials

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1 Measurement

How we measure?
Bu soru Kopenhag’daki bir Üniversitenin fizik sınavından alınmıştır: «Bir gökdelenin yüksekliğini
barometre ile nasıl bulursunuz, anlatınız.»
1. “Barometrenin ucuna bir ip bağlarsınız sonra gökdelenin tepesinden asıp sallarsınız. Barometre
yere değdiğinde ipin boyuyla barometrenin boyunun toplamı gökdelenin yüksekliğini verecektir.”
2. “İlk olarak, barometreyi gökdelenin tepesine çıkartıp kenarından aşağı bırakıp yere inene kadar
gecen sureyi ölçersiniz. Binanın yüksekliği (H=1/2gt2) formülü uygulanarak hesaplanabilir. Fakat
barometre için kotu bir secim...”
3. “Veya güneş parlıyorsa, barometrenin yüksekliğini ölçersiniz. Sonra onu bir yere dikip gölge
uzunluğunu ve sonra da gökdelenin gölge uzunluğunu ölçebilirsiniz. Bundan sonrası basit bir
orantıyı çözmek olacaktır.”
4. “Fakat bu konuda gök bilimsel bir cevap istiyorsanız barometrenin ucuna bir sicim bağlayıp onu
bir sarkaç gibi sallandırabilirsiniz; önce yer seviyesinde daha sonra da gökdelenin
tepesinde. Yüksekliği T=2π (L/g)1/2 formülündeki farktan yararlanarak bulabilirsiniz.”
5. “Yahut da gökdelenin dışarısında bir yangın çıkış merdiveni varsa barometreyi bir cetvel gibi
kullanarak yukarıya çıkarken gökdelenin boyunu barometre yüksekliği biriminden sayıp bunları
toplayabilirsiniz.”
6. “Eğer ille de ortodoks çözüm istiyorsanız, tabii ki barometre ile gökdelenin tepesindeki ve yer
seviyesindeki basıncı ölçer milibar cinsinden çıkan farkı feet’e çevirebilirsiniz ve yüksekliği
bulursunuz.”

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1 Measurement

How we measure?
“Ancak bizler daima zihnin bağımsızlığı ve bilimsel metotlar
kullanma konusunda teşvik edildiğimiz içindir ki en iyi yol şüphesiz
hademenin kapısını çalmak ve yeni bir barometre isteyip istemediğini
sorarak gökdelenin yüksekliğini söylemesi durumunda ona bu
barometreyi vereceğimizi söylemek olurdu.”

Bu cevapla sınıfını geçen öğrencinin adı:

Niels Bohr,
Fizikte nobel ödülü kazanan tek Danimarkalı...

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February 16, 2022 PHY101 Physics I © Dr.Cem Özdoğan
1-3 International System of Units

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1-3 International System of Units

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1-5 Lengths

PROBLEM: The world’s largest ball of string is about 2 m in radius. To

the nearest order of magnitude, what is the total length, L, of the string
of the ball?

SETUP: Assume that the ball is a sphere of radius 2 m. In order to get a

simple estimate, assume that the cross section of the string is a square
with a side edge of 4 mm. This overestimate will account for the loosely
packed string with air gaps.

CALCULATE: The total volume of the string is roughly the volume of

the sphere. Therefore,
−3 2 4 3 3
V =( 4 x 10 ) x L= π R ≈ 4 R
3
4(2 m)3 6
⇒ L= −3 2
=2 x 10 m=3 km
(4 x 10 m)
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