SCIENCE SKILLS

IB PHYSICS | UNIT 1 | SCIENCE SKILLS

 1.2

Units
IB PHYSICS | UNIT 1 | SCIENCE SKILLS
 Two Types of Observations
Provide some examples of each

“How Many” / “How Much”

Quantitative Numerical

Qualitative Description
 Measurement

How can you quantify a

measurement?
 Systems and Units
Fundamental S.I. Units:
Length Meter m
Mass Kilogram kg
Time Second s
Electric Current Ampere (amp) A
Temperature Kelvin K
Amount of Substance Mole mol
Luminous Intensity Candela cd
 Example IB Question

FYI: IBO (International Baccalaureate Organization

expects you to memorize the fundamental units
 Units are Arbitrary

1790 - The length of a 1795 - The length of an 1889 – The distance

pendulum that swings official bar of brass between two lines on an
half of its maximum fabricated to be exactly one official bar of platinum-
distance in one second meter as determined in 1791 iridium alloy, measured at 0°C

1791 - The length of one 1799 - The length of an 1983 – The length traveled
ten-millionth of the official bar of platinum, by light in a vacuum during
distance between the measured from the brass bar 1/299,792,458 of a second
North Pole and the equator and stored at the French
National archives
1/10,000,000th
 What’s ‘the standard’?
All of our base SI units are grounded in some “standard”
that helps maintain consistency.

Some of these units even reference each other…

Definition of the Second

The “second” is defined as the interval required
for 9,192,631,770 vibrations of the cesium-133
atom measured via an atomic beam clock
 Primary and Secondary Colors
Primary Colors Secondary Colors
 Fundamental vs Derived
Fundamental Derived Units
S.I. Units Velocity: 𝑚Τ
Length m 𝑠
Mass kg Acceleration: 𝑚Τ
𝑚ൗ = 𝑠ൗ
Time s
𝑠2 𝑠
Force:

𝑁 = 𝑘𝑔 × 𝑚ൗ 2
𝑠
 Welcome to IB Land!
Since this course is International all of the units must be in
the “European” format rather than the “American” format
This means that instead of writing units with a fraction
slash, we must use negative exponents

Nm2
7 m/s m s-1 6.67 kg2
N m2 kg-2
m s-2 J K-1
J
9.81 m/s2 2.2 K

g cm-3 J K-1 mol-1

J
87 g/cm3 8.31 K×mol
*Taken directly from the IB Physics Data Booklet
The Metric System
 The Metric System
P T G M k h da d c m μ n p f

The value given is the number

of places the decimal moves

Please make sure that you go

in the correct direction!

900 nm = 900,000,000,000 m
or

900 nm = 0.0000009 m
 The Metric System
P T G M k h da d c m μ n p f

0.0000009 m
900 nm → _______________

900 × 10-9 m

base

9
 The Metric System
Prefix Abbreviation Power Conversions:
giga- G 109
250 g = 0.25 kg
mega- M 106
kilo- K 103
hecto- h 102
3 3 3
deca- da 101 0.00325 kg = 3,250,000 μg
Base
deci- d 10-1
3 centi- c 10-2 6
milli- m 10-3 54 mm = 0.000054 km
micro- μ 10-6
nano- n 10-9
 The Metric System | Try These
0.000065
Prefix Abbreviation Power
giga- G 109 65 μC = C
mega- M 106
kilo- K 103
hecto- h 102 6
deca- da 101

deci-
Base
d 10-1
12 MW = 12,000,000 W
centi- c 10-2 6
milli- m 10-3
micro- μ 10-6
nano- n 10-9
The Metric System
There’s more…
 1.3

Dimensional Analysis
IB PHYSICS | UNIT 1 | SCIENCE SKILLS
Warm Up
Convert 0.004 km to m

0.004 × 103 = 4 m

Convert 130 cm to m

130 × 10-2 = 1.3 m

Convert 764 ns to s
764 × 10-9 =
0.000000764 s
 Conversions
Convert the Following:

26.2 miles → kilometers 1 Mile = 1.609 Kilometers

1.609 km
26.2 mi × = 𝟒𝟐. 𝟐 𝐤𝐦
1 mi
 Conversions with fractions
Convert the Following:

35 mi hr-1 → m s-1 1 Mile = 1609 meters

35 mi 1609 m 1 hr 1 min
× × × = 𝟏𝟓. 𝟔 𝐦 𝐬 −𝟏
1 hr 1 mi 60 min 60 s
 Conversions with Exponents
How many cm2 are there in 1 m2?

100 × 100 = 1002 = 𝟏𝟎, 𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐜𝐦𝟐

How many cm3 are there in 1 m3?

100 × 100 × 100 = 1003 = 𝟏, 𝟎𝟎𝟎, 𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐜𝐦𝟐

 Conversions with Exponents
Convert the Following:

0.05 km2 → m2

1000 m 1000 m
0.05 km × 2
× = 𝟓𝟎, 𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐦𝟐
1 km 1 km
2
1000 m
0.05 km ×2
= 𝟓𝟎, 𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐦𝟐
1 km
 Conversions with Exponents
Convert the Following: 1 meter = 3.28 feet

5 m2 → ft2 2
3.28 ft
5m × 2
= 𝟓𝟑. 𝟖 𝐟𝐭 𝟐
1m
5 m3 → ft3
3
3.28 ft
5m × 3
= 𝟏𝟕𝟔. 𝟒 𝐟𝐭 𝟑
1m
 Dimensional Analysis
Start with the formula and substitute units in for variables

v=d/t 𝑚 𝑚
=
𝑠 𝑠
Is this formula valid?
𝑚
𝑚 = 2 𝑠 not valid
d = at 𝑠 𝑚
𝑚 =
𝑠
 Dimensional Analysis
We can use equations with units that we know to find
units that we don’t.
Variable Unit
𝑝 =𝑚×𝑣
kg m s-1
Momentum
m p

= kg Mass Kilogram
s m [kg]

Velocity Meters per second

v [ms-1]
 Dimensional Analysis
Constants have units too! That’s what makes our equation valid

𝑚1 𝑚2 Variable Unit
𝐹=𝐺 Force Newton
𝑑2 F [N]
Mass Kilogram
m1 and m2 [kg]
𝐹𝑑2 N m2
𝐺= = Distance Meter
𝑚1 𝑚2 kg kg d [m]
Universal
2
N m Gravitation Constant N m2 kg-2
= G
kg 2
Example IB Question

𝐹 → N → kg × m s−2
𝑣 → m s−1

𝐹 kg × m s−2 kg × m s−2
𝑘= 2= −1 2
=
𝑣 ms m2 s−2

kg
= = 𝐤𝐠 𝐦−𝟏
m
 Normalized Scientific Notation
Helpful for very big numbers

89,000,000 = 8.9 × 107 or 8.9E7

750,000,000,000 = 7.5 × 1011 or 7.5E11

8,759,000,000 = 8.759 × 109 or 8.759E9

 Normalized Scientific Notation
Helpful for very small numbers

0.00125 = 1.25 × 10-3 or 1.25E-3

0.0000008255 = 8.255 × 10-7 or 8.255E-7

0.00000082550 = 8.2550 × 10-7 or 8.2550E-7

 Orders of Magnitude
If I have $144 in my pocket and you have $24 in your
pocket, how many times larger is my wealth?

144
= 6 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑟
24
 Orders of Magnitude
How do we compare numbers in scientific notation?

8.9 × 107 and 7.3 × 1015

15
7.3 × 10 8
7
≈ 10
8.9 × 10
15 − 7 = 8
 Orders of Magnitude
Mass of universe 10 50 kg
Diameter of universe 10 25 m
Diameter of galaxy 10 21 m
Age of universe 10 18 s
Speed of light 10 8 m s-1
Diameter of atom 10 -10 m
Diameter of nucleus 10 -15 m
Diameter of quark 10 -18 m
Mass of proton 10 -27 kg
Mass of quark 10 -30 kg
Mass of electron 10 -31 kg
Planck length 10 -35 m
Example IB Question

4
10 6
−2
≈ 10
10
4 − (−2) = 6
 1.4

Uncertainty
IB PHYSICS | UNIT 1 | SCIENCE SKILLS
 Precision/Accuracy
Precision: The degree of exactness in a
measurement
*Repeatability
Accuracy: The closeness of a measured value to
the standard
 Precision/Accuracy

High Precision ✔️ ✔️

Low Precision ✔️ ✔️

High Accuracy ✔️ ✔️

Low Accuracy ✔️ ✔️
Example IB Question
 Types of Error

Random “Human
Error Factor”

Systematic Error/Offset
in the
Error instrumentation
Example IB Question
 Uncertainty Game Show
Question Answer Uncertainty Actual Points
1

Total
 Measurement Precision
Analog:
0 1
Estimate to one
digit beyond the
1 cm 1 mm
smallest marking

Digital:
Only go the least
significant digit’s
place
 Estimating Uncertainty Range
Uncertainty
Analog Scale ± (half the smallest division)

0 1

Digital Scale ± (the smallest division)

 Other General Rules
Your uncertainty should typically only have one
significant digit (two are okay in some situations)

Your precision in the measurement and

uncertainty MUST match
i.e. Same number of decimal places
Report these Measurements!
8.78 ± 0.10

5.27 ± 0.05

90.0 ± 0.1 19.99 ± 0.01

 Significant Digits
How many significant digits?
3.45 cm 3 Recommendation for IB Exam:
226.5 cm 4 Round all answers to 3 sig figs
2.50 cm 3 unless otherwise stated
0.025 cm 2
12060 m 4
0.0000250 km 3
25.0 mm 3
*IB will give full credit as long as
25000 mm 2 your answer is within 1 sig fig
2.50 × 104 mm
 1.5
Uncertainty in
Calculations
IB PHYSICS | UNIT 1 | SCIENCE SKILLS
 Estimating Uncertainty Range
When you have repeated measurements, report the average
with an uncertainty of ± (half of the range)

Trial 1 2.01 s Average = 1.98 s

Trial 2 1.82 s
Range = 2.16 – 1.82 = 0.34 s
Trial 3 1.97 s

Trial 4 2.16 s Uncertainty = 0.34/2

Trial 5 1.94 s = ± 0.17 s
 Three ways to Report

2.0 ± 0.3 g
Absolute
Uncertainty ± 0.3 g
Fractional 𝐴𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑒 0.3
Uncertainty = = 0.15
𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 2.0
Percentage
𝐹𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 × 100% = 15%
Uncertainty
Three ways to Report
Absolute
0.385 ± 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟏 𝐕
Uncertainty

Fractional 0.001
Uncertainty = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟐𝟔
0.385

Percentage
0.0026 × 100% = 𝟐𝟔%
Uncertainty
 Example IB Question

Absolute: Percent:
± 0.02 A 0.02
× 100% = 1%
2.00
 Uncertainty in Calculations
Adding or Subtracting Always Add

If y = a ± b then Δy = Δa + Δb
Absolute Uncertainty

To find the uncertainty in a sum or difference you just add the

uncertainties of all the ingredients.
 Try This
A 9.51  0.15 meter rope ladder is hung
from a roof that is 12.56  0.07 meters
above the ground. How far is the bottom of
the ladder from the ground?
12.56 − 9.51 = 3.05 m
0.15 + 0.07 = 0.22 m

3.05 ± 0.22 m
 Uncertainty in Calculations
Multiplying or Dividing Always Add
If y = a × b ÷ c then Δy/y = Δa/a + Δb/b + Δc/c

Percent or Fractional Uncertainty

To find the uncertainty in a product or quotient you just add the

percentage or fractional uncertainties of all the ingredients.
 Try This
A car travels 64.7  0.5 meters in 8.65  0.05 seconds.
What is its speed?
𝑑 64.7
𝑣= = = 7.48 m s−1
𝑡 8.65
0.5
64.7
× 100% = 0.77% 7.48 m s −1 ± 1.35%
0.05 7.48 × 0.0135 = 0.1 m s −1
× 100% = 0.58%
8.65

0.77% + 0.58% = 1.35%

7.48 ± 0.1 m s−1
This is in the Data Booklet ☺
Example IB Question

0.10 ± 0.01 A
0.01
× 100% = 10%
0.10
2
𝐼 =𝐼×𝐼
10% + 10% = 20%
Example IB Questions

3
4𝜋𝑟
𝑟×𝑟×𝑟
Exact Values
2% + 2% + 2% = 𝟔%

3 0.3
𝐿 =𝐿×𝐿×𝐿 10.0
× 100% = 3%

3% + 3% + 3% = 𝟗%
103 = 1000 cm3 1000 × 0.09 = 𝟗𝟎 𝐜𝐦𝟑