Quantities and Units

Introduction
When physicists perform experiments or make observations they need to take
measurements of the physical quantities being studied. Each physical quantity has a
magnitude (or size) and a unit of measurement. In order that the recorded
measurements are meaningful they need to be made with reference to a set of defined
standards or units to which all scientists agree with. This will ensure that data obtained
by one group of scientists can be understood and checked by other groups of scientists
at different locations.

The image below shows a satellite photograph of Newcastle with the INTO building and
St James' Park football stadium labelled.

Consider the following statement:

“The distance from the INTO building in Newcastle to Newcastle United's football
stadium, St James' Park, is about 500.”

Is this correct? What is missing from the statement?

The unit is missing. But what unit is missing?

There are lots of different units for distance such as:

 mile,

 kilometre (km),

 millimetre (mm),

 inch,

 light year,

 centimetre (cm).

So which unit should be used?

In this case the correct unit is the metre (m).

To avoid confusion and allow measurements and calculations to be compared the units
used to represent data need to be consistent. The scientific world today uses an
internationally agreed set of units known as the Systeme International or S.I. units, this
is sometimes called the mks-system as the units of length, mass and time are meters,
kilograms, and seconds, respectively.

Base Units
The S.I. units can be divided into two sets, base units and derived units. There are
seven base units in the SI system and these are defined in terms of measurements of a
set of seven standard physical quantities. The full set of base units are shown in table:

Quantity Unit Symbol

Time second s
Mass kilogram kg
Length metre m
Electric Current ampere A
Thermodynamic kelvin K
temperature
Amount of substance mole mol
Luminous intensity candela cd

In this course we will not use the candela unit but will use all others. Some of the
commonly used base units are time and length which are defined as follows:
Time: This is defined by the frequency of radiation emitted by a caesium atom.

1
Length: The distance light travels in a vacuum in of a second.
299792458

Derived Units
All other SI units used in science and engineering are the derived units which are
formed by the multiplication and division of the seven base units. Some examples of
derived units are newton (N), pascal (Pa) and ohm (Ω). Since all derived units are
formed from the base units this means that all derived units can be broken down into
base units.

Worked Example
What are the base units for the newton (N)?

Solution
The newton is the unit of force. Force is related to the mass and acceleration of an
object by the equation:

force=mass × acceleration

In terms of units, the unit of force is the newton (N), the unit of mass is the kilogram
(kg), and the unit of acceleration is m/s2. So we get the relationship between the units
is:

m
N=kg × 2
s

The kilogram, metre and second are all base units, so the base units of the newton are
kg m
2 or kg m s−2.
s

Balancing Equations
The fact that all derived units can be broken down into base units can be used to check
whether equations are consistent or not. Equations that are consistent are known as
homogeneous equations.

If A = 10kg + 3m - 2s what is the value of A? This cannot be done.

If B = 10kg x 3m / 2s what is the value of B? 15 kg m s-1.

This highlights some important facts about equations that contain combinations of
different physical quantities such as mass, length, and time:

 You cannot add or subtract quantities with different units.

 You can multiply or divide quantities with different units.

 The units on each side of the = sign must be the same.

When solving physics problems equations may need to be rearranged. It is very easy to
make mistakes when doing this. Base units can be used to check that the equation is
correct. When the units on both sides of an equation are the same the equation is said
to be homogeneous.

Worked Example
1 2
The formula s=ut+ a t can be rearranged to make u the subject of the formula. In an
2
exam three students rearranged the equation differently. The three different
rearrangements were:

s 1 2
a) u= − a t
t 2

s
b) u= −a t
t

s 1
c) u= − a t
t 2

But which one is correct?

Solution
We will check the equations using the base units.

Equation (a) is:

s 1 2
u= − a t
t 2

The different terms have the following units:

 m
• u is a speed and has the units ,
s

• s is a distance and has the unit m,

m
• a is an acceleration and has the units 2,
s

• t is the time and has the unit s,

1
• the term is simply a number and has no units.
2

m
The left-hand side of equation (a) is u which has the units of . The right-hand side of
s
the equation is:

s 1 2
− at
t 2

If we substitute the units into this expression we get:

m m 2
+ ×s
s s2 ( )
To simplify this expression the first term remains the same. However, the term in the
parenthesis () becomes m (the two s2 terms cancel out). So, the simplified version of
the units is:

m
+m
s

These are different units trying to be added together, which is not allowed. So, we can
state that equation (a) is not correct.

Equation (b) is:

s
u= −a t
t
 m
The left-hand side of equation (b) is u which has the units of . The right-hand side is
s

s
−a t
t

If we substitute the units into this expression we get:

m m
( )
+ ×s
s s2

As was the case with equation (a), to simplify this expression the first term remains the
m
same. The term in the parenthesis () also becomes since the s in the numerator
s
cancels with one of the s’s term in s2. So, the simplified version of the units is:

m m
+
s s

Which further simplifies to:

m
s

m
Therefore, both sides of equation (b) have the same units,. So, equation (b) is
s
homogenous. This means that equation (b) might be correct.

Equation (c) is:

s 1
u= − a t
t 2

m
The left-hand side of equation (c) is u which has the units of . The right-hand side is:
s

s 1
− at
t 2

If we substitute the units into this expression we get:

m m
( )
+ ×s
s s2
As was the case with equation (b) this simplifies to the final expression of:

m
s

m
Both sides of equation (c) have the same units, . So, equation (c) is homogenous.
s
Therefore equation (c) might also be correct.

Equations (b) and (c) are homogeneous but the correct equation is equation (c).
1
Although equation (b) is homogeneous it has a constant value of missing from the
2
equation. This value has no units so cannot be detected using units. This illustrates that
the fact that an equation is homogeneous doesn't mean the equation is correct, it just
means the format of the equation is correct but there might be terms that have no units
missing.

“British system of units”

Although scientists and engineers usually use the SI units in their work there are
occasions where other units are used. This could be because the other units are
traditionally used in a particular field of engineering or it could be that it would be too
expensive to modify existing equipment to use SI units. Therefore, there will be
occasions where you have to convert data from one set of units to another set.

In some countries (including the UK and the US) the British system of units is still
partially used.

In this system:

 length is measured in inches, feet, yards, and miles,

 force (or weight) is measure in ounces, pounds, and stones.

So, for example, pressure (which is force over area) is sometimes measured in “pounds

per square inch” (

lb
in
2
or
lb
)
sq. in
.

Although this can be confusing at times, most other units can be easily converted to SI
units. In fact, the British units are now defined in terms of SI units:

 length 1 inch (in) = 2.54 cm = 0.0254 m (exactly)

  force 1 pound (lb) = 4.448221615260 N (exactly)

Some other conversion that may be useful are:

 1 mile = 1.609 km = 1609 m

 1 foot (ft) = 30.48 cm = 0.3048 m

 1 m = 3.281 ft = 39.37 in