UNIT AND MEASUREMENTS
Anything that can be expressed in numbers is called physical quantities.
Types of Physical Quantities
SCALAR QUANTITY: Only magnitude, no direction.
Example: mass, speed, distance, time, volume, density, temperature, power, energy,
work, charge, electrical current, pressure, specific heat, frequency etc
VECTOR QUANTITY: Both magnitude and direction.
Example: Displacement, velocity, acceleration, force, momentum, torque, electrical
field, weight, magnetic field, angular velocity, impulse, current density etc
Note: - Electric current has a direction but it is considered as a scalar quantity
FUNDAMENTAL QUANTITY:
1. Physical quantities that are independent of each other
2. Used as the foundation for defining other physical quantities.
3. There are seven fundamental quantities in the International System of Units (SI):
length, mass, time, electric current, temperature, amount of substance, and
luminous intensity.
SUPPLEMENTARY QUANTITIES: The two supplementary quantities are plane angle and solid
angle, with unit’s radian (rad) and steradian (sr)
UNITS
SYSTEM OF UNITS
The seven fundamental SI units are the basic units from which all other SI units are
derived.
These are
OTHER IMPORTANT SI UNITS
QUANTITY SI UNIT SYMBOL
Magnetic Intensity Oersted Oe
Frequency Hertz Hz
Impulse Newton-second Ns
Angular Velocity Radian per Second rad/s
Viscosity Pascal-second Pa·s
Surface Tension Newton per Meter N/m
Heat Joule J
Electric Energy Kilowatt-hour kWh
Electric Power Kilowatt or Watt kW / W
Radioactivity Becquerel Bq
Intensity of Sound Decibel dB
Power of Lens Dioptre D
Force Newton N
Electric charge Coloumb C
Electric potential Volt V
Capacitance Farad F
Resistance Ohn Ω
Conductance siemens Ω-1
Magnetic flux Weber Wb
Magnetic flux density Tesla
Length Light Year = Distance travelled by light in one year = 9.46x10¹⁵ meters
1 Parsec = 3.26 light years (The largest commonly used unit of distance in
astronomy is the parsec)
1 Nautical Mile = 1.852 kilometres
1 Astronomical unit = 1.5 x 1011m (the average distance between the
Earth and the Sun)
1 Micron =10-6
1 Angstrom = 10-10 m
1 Nanometre = 10-9 m
1 millimetre = 10-3m
1 fermi = 10-15 meter
Mass Quintal = 100 kilograms,
1 Metric Ton = 10000 kg,
1 Pound= 0.4537 KG
1 amu (atomic mass unit) = 1.66 x 10-27kg
Time 1 Solar Day = 86400 seconds.
Sidereal Month (Time taken by the Moon to complete one orbit of the
Earth) = 27.3 Solar Days
1 Year = 365.2 Solar Days
PHYSICAL QUANTITIES, FORMULAE, UNITS
Physical quantity Formulae Units
Area Length * breadth m2
Volume Length*breadth*height m3
Density Mass/volume Kg m-3
Speed or velocity Distance or displacement / time ms-1
Linear momentum Mass * velocity Kg-ms-1
Acceleration Change in velocity / time taken ms-2
Force or Thrust Mass * acceleration N
Impulse Force * time Ns
Pressure Force / area Nm-2 (Pa)
Work Force * distance J (joule)
Energy or Heat Work J (joule
Power Work/ time W (watt)
Surface tension or Force/ length Nm-1
Force constant of spring
Coefficient of elasticity Stress/strain Nm-2
Plank’s constant Energy/frequency J-s
Moment of Inertia Mass * distance2 Kg-m2
Angular velocity Angle/time Rad.s-1
Angular acceleration Angular velocity/time Rad/s2
Torque Angular acceleration * moment N-m
of inertia
Boltzman constant Energy/temp J/k
Specific heat
Latent heat
Thermal capacity
Molar gas constant
Electric potential Work/charge volt
DIMENSION
SOME PRACTICAL UNITS:
1 Barn = 10-28 m2 1 BOT = 3.6*106 J = 3.6 MJ
1 Hectare = 104 m2 1 Wb = 108 Max (units of magnetic flux)
1 litre = 10-3 m3 1 ev = 1.6*10-19J
1 Pa = 1 N/m2 1 T = 104 G(units of magnetic induction)
1 Bar = 105 Pa 1 Horse power = 746 W
1 ATM = 1.013 * 105 Pa = 1.013 Bar
1 Torr = 1 mm Hg
1 ATM = 76 cm Hg = 760 mm Hg = 760 Torr
1 Calorie = 4.2 J
1 J = 107 erg
SOME IMPORTANT ISTRUMENTS AND THEIR USES :
Some Dimensionless quantity : Angle, solid angle, strain, poison’s ratio, Dielectric constant,
Relative permitivity, relative density, refractive index etc
