Unit 1: Physics and Measurement

1.1 Measurement
Measurement: Measurement essentially is a comparison process.
[essentially = basically]
Quantitative measurements must be expressed by numerical comparison
to certain agreed upon set of standards.
A standard quantity of some kind is referred to as a unit.
Standard: Standard is something or a reference used as a measure for
length, mass and time.
Unit: Unit is a quantity or an amount used as a standard of measurement.
There are many things in the world that can be measured accurately.
These things are known as physical quantities.
Physical Quantity: A physical quantity is the quantity that can be measured,
and consists of a numerical magnitude and a unit.
Basic Type of Physical Quantities: Length, mass, time, temperature,
electric current, amount of substance and luminous intensity are called
basic type of physical quantities.
Derived Type of Physical Quantities: Quantities other than the basic
quantities are called derived type of physical quantities. Area, volume,
velocity, work, energy, etc., are called derived type of physical quantities.
1.2 SYSTEMS OF UNITS
In this text book, three systems of measurement: British system, Metric
system and SI units will be used.
British System (FPS System): The British system is based on foot (ft),
pound (lb) and second (s), and is therefore also called the FPS system.
Metric System: The Metric system consists of the CGS system and the
MKS system.
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CGS System: The CGS system is based on centimetre (cm), gram (g) and
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second (s).
MKS System: The MKS system is based on metre (m), kilogram (kg) and
second (s).

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1.4 STANDARDS AND UNITS
(a) The Unit of Length
The standard of length is metre.
In the CGS system the unit of length is the centimetre (cm) and 1 cm = 10-2
m.
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In the FPS system the unit of length is the foot (ft) and 1 ft = 0.3048 m.
The unit of length used by particle physicists is the ‘fermi’ or ‘femtometre’
(fm) given by 1 fm = 10-15 m.
In the field of optics, physicists use the unit angstrom (Å), where 1 Å = 10-10
m.
In astronomy, the most suitable units are the astronomical unit (au) and
the light year unit (ly).
The light year is the distance which light travels in one year.
(b) The Unit of Mass
The standard of mass is a cylinder of 1 kg mass made of platinum-iridium
alloy.
It serves as a standard of mass for international use.
The standard metre and standard kilogram are kept at the International
Bureau of Weights and Measures at Sevres, near Paris.
(c) The Unit of Time
The SI base unit of time is second.
The second was originally defined as of a day. [1 day = 24 h = 24 × 60 × 60 s]
One day is the time it takes the Earth to rotate once.
But the Earth's rotation is not quite constant.
So, for accuracy, the second is now defined in terms of something that
never changes: the frequency of oscillation which can occur from a
cesium atom.
Physical laws and principles can be fully and effectively represented in
mathematical forms.
The symbols for the physical quantities must be short and precise.
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1.5 MEASUREMENT OF LENGTH
1. To measure the length of objects, some standard objects have to be
used.
2. For everyday use, the standard may be a yard stick, ruler, metre stick
and so on.
3. Lengths are usually measured in metre, centimetre or millimetre.
4. Greater lengths are measured in kilometre.
Table: Instruments used for measuring length

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1.6 MEASUREMENT OF MASS
5. The mass of an object is a measure of the amount of matter in it.
6. Mass is measured in laboratories using a sliding mass balance or the
electronic balance.
7. The electronic balance is easier to use and also more accurate than
sliding mass balance. The
unknown mass is placed on the top of the pan and its mass is read directly
from a display screen.
8. The balance really detects the gravitational pull on the object (weight),
but the scale is marked to show the mass.
9. The mass of purified drinking water of 1 liter bottle is 1 kg.

1.7 MEASUREMENT OF TIME

10. Time is measured in years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds,
but the SI unit for time is the second (s). 11. Most common modern clocks
and watches depend on, the vibration of quartz crystals to keep time
accurately. The energy to keep these crystals vibrating comes from a
small battery. 12. A stopwatch (or) a stop clock can be chosen to measure
the time to an accuracy of a few tenths of a second. 13. Digital stopwatches
can measure up to 0.01 s.
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