Units and

Measurements

PHYSICS

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Units and Measurements

Definition
Physical Quantity : The quantities which can be measured or defi ned are known
as physical quantities. Some examples are force, distance, time, etc.

The process of comparison of an unknown quantity with a standard quantity is known as

"Measurement" . Two parameters are used to express the result of measurement
of a physical quantity. They are as follows:
1) Magnitude: By this parameter, it is expressed that how many times the above
selected unit is contained in the given quantity.
2) Unit: For understanding any physical quantity, its classifi cation or comparison
with a certain basic, arbitrarily chosen, internationally accepted reference standard is
called unit.
For example, in a force of 20 Newton, ‘force’ is the physical quantity, ‘20’ is the
magnitude, and ‘newton’ is the unit of force.
The result of the measurement of any physical quantities is expressed by number (its
numerical measurement) accompanied by a specific unit.
In physics, we have many such physical quantities and hence a variety of units but for
better understanding and classification, we need only a few limited numbers of units that
can relate with one another.

Definition
Fundamental Units: The units for the fundamental or basic quantities are known
as fundamental or base units. There are 7 base or fundamental unit (length, mass, time,
electric current, temperature, amount of substance, luminous intensity)

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Units
As explained earlier, measurement of any physical quantity involves comparison with a
certain basic, arbitrarily chosen, internationally accepted reference standard called unit.
A complete set of these units, both the base units and derived units, is known as the
system of units. There are three such systems which are generally used. The
base units for length, mass and time in these systems are as follows:
1) In the CGS system they were centimeter, gram and second respectively.
2) In the FPS system they were foot, pound and second respectively.
3) In the MKS system they were a meter, kilogram and second respectively.

Q. The surface tension of a liquid is 90 dyne/cm. In MKS system its value is?

A. The surface tension of a liquid is 90 dyne/cm.

In MKS system or SI unit its value is 9 x 10-2 N/m.
 1 dyne/cm = 1 x 10-3 N/m
 A British Association for the Advancement of Science first suggested the
name dyne as a centimeter–gram–second (CGS) force unit in 1873.
 It is a derived force unit defined in the unit's framework of centimeter–gram–
second (CGS).
 Newton is a unit of force derived from the International System of Units (SI),
whereas the MKS (Meter, kilogram and sec) is used to define SI Units.
 In honor of his research on classical mechanics, it is named after Isaac Newton,
specifically the second law of motion of Newton.

MKS system has been adopted as an international system and called S.I. units.
The reason for adopting this system is due to the ease of conversion from large quantity
to small or vice-versa just by multiplying it by powers of 10, known as a prefix.
E.g.- 1 meter can be converted into centimeter by multiplying it by 102.
i.e., 2 m ⇒ 2×102 = 200 cm and vice versa.

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Standard Prefixes

Sometimes when the numerical value of a quantity becomes very large or very small,
prefixes are used along with the units to make the numerical values of the quantities
more manageable.

Factor Prefix Symbol

For small measurements
10-1 Deci D
10-2 centi C
-3
10 Milli m
10-6 Micro µ
10-9 Nano n
10-12 Pico p
10-15 femto f
10-18 atto a
10-21 zepto z
10-24 yoeto y
For large measurement
1024 Yotta Y
1021 Zetta Z
1018 exa E
1015 Peta P
12
10 Tera T
109 Giga G
106 Mega M
103 Kilo K
102 hecto H
101 Deca da

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Memory Tip

Deci

Q. If we have 15 kg of rice what will be the equivalent amount in grams

A. For 15 kg equivalent amount will be

15 kg ⇒ 15 × 103 g
Hence for 15 kg of rice the equivalent amount will be 15,000 g of rice.
Note:
In this example we are also converting SI unit to CGS unit since the SI unit of mass is
the kilogram (kg) and CGS unit is grams (g)

Types of Quantities
All physical quantities are generally classified into two types:
1) Fundamental quantities
2) Derived quantities

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Fundamental Quantities

Fundamental quantities are those quantities that

cannot be derived from any other quantities.
In the SI Unit, there are 7 fundamental quantities,
Besides the seven base units, there are two more
units called supplementary units that are
defined for
a) plane angle dθ as the ratio of the length of arc
ds to the radius r and
b) solid angle dΩ as the ratio of the intercepted
area dA of the spherical surface

Fundamental units: The units for the

fundamental or base quantities are called
fundamental or base units.
Some examples and their respective SI and CGS
units are as follows.

Base quantity Dimension Symbol (S. I unit) Symbol (CGS system)

Length [L] M (metre) cm (centimeter)

Mass [M] Kg (Kilogram) g (gram)

Time [T] s (Second) s (Second)

Electric Current [A] A (Ampere) A (Ampere)

Temperature [K] K (Kelvin) °C (Degree Celsius)

Amount of substance [mol] mol (Mole) -

Luminous intensity [J] cd (Candela) -

Supplementary quantities

Angle - Radian (rad) -

Solid angle - Steradian (sr) -

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Derived Quantities
The quantities which can be derived from fundamental quantities or which consist of
fundamental quantities are called derived quantities.
Derived units: The units of all other physical quantities can be expressed as
combinations of the base units. Such units obtained for the derived quantities
are called derived units.

Q. What will be the S.I unit of kinetic energy in terms of its respective
fundamental quantity?
A. Kinetic energy is the energy carried by the particle by the virtue of its motion and it is
expressed as :

∴ Unit of K.E = kg m2/s2

Here we can ignore the constant ½ since its unit-less and we are only concerned
with the unit of kinetic energy.
Note: From this, we can say that unit of kinetic energy must be kg m2/s2 but
also the SI unit for kinetic energy is Joule
∴ 1 joule = 1 kg m2/s2

Physical Quantity Symbol Dimension Measurement Unit

Area A L2 square meter m2

Volume V L3 cubic meter m3

Velocity v L/T meter per second m/sec

Angular velocity ω T-1 radians per second 1/sec

Meter per square
Acceleration a LT-2 m/sec2
second
radians per square
Angular acceleration α T-2 1/sec2
second

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Force F MLT-2 Newton Kg m/sec2

Energy E ML2T-2 Joule Kg m2/sec2

Work W ML2T-2 Joule Kg m2/sec2

Heat Q ML2T-2 Joule Kg m2/sec2

Torque τ ML2T-2 Newton meter Kg m2/sec2

Power
P ML2T-3 watt & joule/sec Kg m2/sec3
kilogram per cubic
Density D or ρ ML-3 Kg/m3
meter
Newton per square
Pressure P ML-1T-2 Kg m-1/sec2
meter
Impulse J MLT-1 Newton second kg m/sec
Kilogram square
Inertia I ML2 kg m2
meter
lumen
Luminous flux f C (4Pi candle for a point cd sr
source)
lumen per square
Illumination E CL-2 Cd sr/m2
meter
Entropy S ML2T-2K-1 joule per degree kg m2/sec2 K
cubic meter per
The volume rate of flow Q L3T-1 m3/sec
second
Kinematic viscosity n L2T-1 square meter m2/sec
Newton second per
Dynamic viscosity m ML-1T-1 kg/m sec
square meter

Measurement of Length
Range of Lengths may vary from the26size of the order of 10 –14 m of the tiny nucleus of
an atom to the size of the order of 10 m.

Some Important conversions are:

 Nautical Mile: Used to measure distance in the seas and oceans.
1 nautical mile = 1852 m
 Fathom: Used for measuring the depth of the ocean.
1 Fathom = 1.828 m = 6 feet

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 Light year: The distance traveled by light in a vacuum in one year.

1 light-year = 9.46 × 1015 m
 Parsec: It is the largest unit of distance and known as Parallactic Second.
1 parsec = 3.26 light year
 Astronomical Unit (AU): The mean distance between the sun and the earth.
1 AU = 1.496 × 1011 m

Measurement of length using Parallax theorem

Large distances such as the distance of a planet or a star from the earth cannot
be measured directly with a meter scale. So, we use the parallax method for this type of
measurements.
When you hold a pencil in front of you against some specific point on the background (a
wall) and look at the pencil first through your left eye A (closing the right eye) and then
look at the pencil through your right eye B (closing the left eye), you would notice that
the position of the pencil seems to change with respect to the point on the wall. This is
called parallax.
The distance between the two points of observation is called the basis.

To measure the distance D of a faraway planet S by the parallax method, we observe it

from two different positions (observatories) A and B on the Earth.
As the planet is very far away, b << D and therefore, θ is very small. Then we
approximately take AB as an arc of length b of a circle with center at S and the distance
D.

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The same method can be used to know the diameter of a planet. Here if;
b: diameter of the planet
θ: the angular size of the planet (the angle subtended by b at the earth),
θ is the angle between the two directions when two diametrically opposite points of the
planet are viewed through the telescope.
Since D is known, the diameter b of the planet can be determined

Range of Length

Size of object or distance Length (m)

Size of a proton 10-15

Size of the atomic nucleus 10-14

Size of the hydrogen atom 10-11

Length of a typical virus 10-8

Wavelength of Visible light 10-7

Size of red blood corpuscle 10-5

The thickness of a paper 10-4

Height of the Mount Everest above sea level 104

The radius of the Earth 10 6

The distance of the moon from the Earth 108

The distance of the Sun from the Earth 1011

The distance of Pluto from the Sun 1013

Size of our galaxy 1021

Distance to Andromeda galaxy 1022

Distance to the boundary of the observable universe 1026

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Points to Remember
Following are some of the most important conversions of length.
Units Value
1 AU 1.496 × 1011 m
1 Light year 9.46 × 1015 m
1 Mile 1.6 km
1 nautical mile 1852 m
1 fermi 10-15 m
1 Angstrom 10-10 m
1 millimeter 10-3 m
1 Fathom 1.828 m

Measurement of Mass
Mass is a basic property of matter. It does not depend on
 Temperature
 Pressure
 Location of the object in space.
The SI unit of mass is the kilogram (kg). While dealing with atoms and molecules, the
kilogram is an inconvenient unit. For this, an important standard unit of mass called the
unified atomic mass unit (u),

Definition
Unified Atomic Mass Unit: the mass 1 unifi ed atomic mass unit = 1u = (1/12) of
the mass of an atom of carbon-12 isotope (C612) including the mass of electrons = 1.66
× 10–27 kg

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Range of Mass
Object Mass (kg) Object Mass (kg)
Electron 9.1093837×10-31 Proton 10-27
Uranium atom 10-25 Red blood cell 10-13
Dust particle 10-9 Raindrop 10-6
Mosquito 10-5 Grape 10-3
Human 102 Automobile 103
Boeing 747 aircraft 108 Moon 1023
Earth 1025 Sun 1030
Milky way galaxy 1041 Observable Universe 1055

Points to Remember
Following are some of the most important conversions of mass.

Units Value
1 gram 10-3 kg
1 mg 10-6 kg
1 a.m.u 1.66 x 10-27 kg
1 quintal 100 kg
1 metric tonne 1000 kg
1 solar mass 2 × 1030 kg

Measurement of Time
We now use an atomic standard of time, which is based on the periodic vibrations
produced in a cesium atom.

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The basis of the cesium clock, sometimes called atomic clock, the second is taken as
the time needed for 9,192,631,770 vibrations of the radiation corresponding to the
transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium-133
atom.

Range of Time
Event Time interval (s)

Life-span of most unstable particle 10-24

Period of atomic vibrations 10-15

Period of lightwave 10-15

Period of a sound wave 10-3

Travel time for light from the Sun to the Earth 102
The rotation period of the Earth 105

Rotation and revolution periods of the moon 106

Revolution period of the Earth 107

Age of the universe 1017

Points to Remember
Following are some of the most important conversions of time.

Units Value Units Value

1 minute 60 s 1 year 3.1536 × 107 s
1 hour 3600 s 1 decade 3.1536 × 108 s
1 day 86400 s 1 century 3.16 × 109 s
1 month 2.592 × 106 s 1 Millennium 3.16 × 1010 s

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Conversion Factors

Length
 1 meter = 100 cm = 10-3 km
 1 centimeter = 10-2 m = 10-5 km
 1 kilometer = 103 m = 105 cm
 1 inch = 2.54 cm
 1 foot =30.48 cm
 1 angstrom = 10-10 m
 1 fermi =10-15 m

Time
 1 minute = 60 s
 1 hour = 60 min = 3600 s
 1 day = 24 h
 1 year = 365.25 day

Mass
 1 kilogram = 103 g
 1 gram = 10-3 kg
 1 atomic mass unit = 1.661 × 10-27 kg
 1 metric ton = 1000 kg

Force
 1 Newton = 105 dyne
 1 dyne = 10-5 N
 1 pound = 4.448 N

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Pressure
 1 Pascal = 10 dyne/cm2
 1 atmosphere = 1.013 × 105 Pa
 1 bar = 105 Pa
 1 torr = 1 mm of Mercury

Work /Energy /Heat

 1 minute = 60 s
 1 hour = 60 min = 3600 s
 1 day = 24 h
 1 year = 362.24 day

Power
 1 Watt = 1 J/s
 1 horsepower = 746 W

Angle
 1 rad = 57.30ᵒ = 180ᵒ/π
 1ᵒ = π/180ᵒ rad
 1 revolution = 360ᵒ = 2π rad

Dimensional Analysis
In a field of physics and engineering, dimensional analysis plays a vital role in
establishing the relationship between different physical quantities by identifying their
relation with the fundamental quantities such as length, time, mass & current.
The use of dimension analysis can often help us understand complicated equations
and establish essential relations with different physical quantities.

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For analyzing dimensions of any physical quantity, we must obey the following rules:
1) In any given equation every term in an expression must have the same dimension,
i.e., addition or subtracting quantities of different dimensions are not allowed
2) In an expression, dimension of any fundamental physical quantity on both sides of
the equation must be same.
3) Expressions within standard mathematical functions like trigonometric
functions, logarithmic or exponential functions in an equation are always
dimensionless. Such functions are pure numbers and are therefore do not
have any dimensions.

Q. What will be the dimensional formula for the volume of a sphere with radius R?

A. Given that,

Here π is a constant and dimensionless thus the dimension formula for the volume of
the sphere is given as

Here,
L = length, T = time and M = mass

Dimensions of Unknown Quantities

Let’s say we have a physical quantity like acceleration, which is generally defined as
the rate of change of its velocity.

Also, velocity is defined as the rate of change of displacement. Hence, the equation of
acceleration can be modified as

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Thus, the dimensional formula for acceleration will be

Using this technique, we can calculate the dimension of any unknown quantities by just
following the simple rules given above.

Q. For the given equation what will be the value of a, b & c. where m,v & r denotes
mass velocity and radius
F ∝ ma vb rc
A. Given that force is directly proportional to ma vb rc

Therefore, we can write the given equation of force in terms of dimensions as

[F] = [ma ][vb ][rc ]

In this case dimension of velocity v is given as [L/T] since velocity is defined as the
rate of change of displacement or displacement upon time.
Also Dimension of force is [MLT-2] since force is defines as mass times acceleration
(i.e., F = ma).

Now by using Rule 2 of maintaining dimensional consistency along both the side of
the equation, we can see that
Value of a = 1
Value of b = 2
And value of b+c = 1, Thus value of c= -1
If we substitute these values of a, b & c in the given equation we get

We can notice this is the equation of centripetal force, in this way dimensional
analysis plays a vital role in establishing the relationship between the different
physical quantity

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