Chapter 1

Units, Physical
Quantities, and Vectors
PowerPoint® Lectures for
University Physics, Thirteenth Edition
– Hugh D. Young and Roger A. Freedman

Lectures by Wayne Anderson

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education Inc.
 Major Areas in Physics

 Divided into six major areas:

• Mechanics
• Relativity
• Thermodynamics
• Electromagnetism
• Optics
• Quantum Mechanics
 Classical Physics
 Mechanics and electromagnetism are basic to all
other branches of classical and modern physics.

 Classical physics
 Developed before 1900.
 Also called Newtonian Mechanics or Mechanics.

 Modern physics
 From about 1900 to the present.
 Includes theories of relativity and quantum
mechanics.
 Theory and Experiments
 Should complement each other.

 When a discrepancy occurs, theory may be modified

or new theories formulated.

 A theory may apply to limited conditions.

– Example: Newtonian Mechanics is confined to
objects traveling slow with respect to the speed of
light.
 Standards and units
• Length, time, and mass are three fundamental
quantities of physics.

• The International System (SI for Système

International) is the most widely used system of
units.

• In SI units, length is measured in meters, time in

seconds, and mass in kilograms.
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 Unit prefixes
• Table shows some larger and smaller units for the
fundamental quantities.

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 Complete the following statement: The
ratio 1 milligram/1 kilogram is equal to

A. 102
B. 103
C. 106
D. 103
E. 106
 Rounding
 Last retained digit is increased by 1 if the last digit
dropped is greater than 5.
 Last retained digit remains as it is if the last digit
dropped is less than 5.
 If the last digit dropped is equal to 5, the retained
digit should be rounded to the nearest even number.
Number Rounded

 Example: 1.2347 1.235

4.243 4.24
7.215 7.22
9.25 9.2
 Order of Magnitude
 An order-of-magnitude estimate of a quantity gives
a rough idea of its magnitude.

The order of magnitude is the power of 10 that

applies.

Example:
0.008 6 m ~ 10-2 m, 0.002 1m ~ 10-3 , 720 ~ 103
 Dimensional Analysis
 Technique to check the correctness of an equation
or to assist in deriving an equation.
 Dimensions (length, mass, time, combinations) can
be treated as algebraic quantities. Add, subtract,
multiply, divide.
 Both sides of equation MUST have the same
dimensions.
 Any relationship can be correct only if the
dimensions on both sides of the equation are the
same.
 Basic Quantities and Their
Dimensions

Dimension has a specific meaning – it

denotes the physical nature of a quantity.

Dimensions are often denoted with square

brackets.
oLength [L]
oMass [M]
oTime [T]
Dimensional Analysis, example

 Given the equation: x = ½ at 2

 Check dimensions on each side:

L
L  2 T L
2

 The T2’s cancel, leaving L for the dimensions

of each side.
• The equation is dimensionally correct.
• There are no dimensions for the constant.
QuickCheck 1.11

The position x, in meters, of an object is given by the

equation x = A + Bt + Ct2, where t represents time in
seconds. What are the SI units of A, B, and C?

A) m, m, m
B) m, s, s
C) m, s, s2
D) m, m/s, m/s2
E) m/s, m/s2, m/s3

Slide 1-87
 Uncertainty in Measurements
 There is uncertainty in every measurement – this
uncertainty carries over through the calculations.

 May be due to the apparatus, the experimenter,

and/or the number of measurements made

 Need a technique to account for this uncertainty

 We will use rules for significant figures to

approximate the uncertainty in results of
calculations.
 Percent Uncertainty
 If a measurement A is expressed with uncertainty,
δA , the percent uncertainty (%unc) is defined to
be

Example, if you determine that a 5-lb bag has

an uncertainty of ±0.4 lb
 Significant Figures

 A significant figure is one that is reliably known.

 Measure something with uncertainty of ± 0.1.

Example (6 ± 0.1) cm as the radius of a disk.
Measured value has two significant figures.
 Significant Figures
 Zeros may or may not be significant.

 Zeros on the left are not significant:

 Example: 012 and 0.12 both have two significant
figures.

 Zeros on the right are not significant for a non-

decimal number but are significant for a decimal
number:
 Examples: 1200 has 2 significant figure.

 0.10 has two significant numbers.

 Significant Figures
 If no zero in the number then just count the numbers.

 2.3641 has 5 significant figures (s.f.)

 If a number has zeros before the first non-zero digit,
start with that first non-zero digit from the left
 0.000534 has 3 s.f.
 1.50 x 103 m (3 s.f.) or 1.500 x 103 m (4 s.f.)
 Operations with Significant
Figures – Multiplying or Dividing
 When multiplying or dividing several quantities,
the number of significant figures in the final
answer is the same as the number of significant
figures in the quantity having the smallest
number of significant figures.

 25.57 m x 2.45 m =62.6 m2

 The 2.45 m limits your result to 3 significant

figures.
 Operations with Significant
Figures – Adding or Subtracting
When adding or subtracting, the number of
decimal places in the result should equal the
smallest number of digits to the right of
decimal point
 Scientific notation
 To express the very large and very small quantities
we often run into in physics, we use scientific
notation.

 Example: 3 560 000 000 m = 3.56 x 109m.

 Sometimes special names are used to describe very

large or very small quantities (e.g. giga, nano, kilo
etc).

 Example: 2.35 x 10-9 = 2.35 nanoseconds (ns)

 Changing units
 We often need to change the units in which a physical
quantity is expressed.

 For example, since there are 1000 meters in a kilometer,

 Conversion between one system of units and another

can therefore be easily figured out as shown. The first
equation above is often called the “Conversion Factor”.
How many cubic centimeters (cm3) are in a
cubic meter (1 m3)?

1. 100 (= 102)
2. 1000 (= 103)
3. 10000 (= 104)
4. 100000 (= 105)
5. 1000000 (= 106)
 Vectors and Scalars

Vectors
• Quantities which indicate both magnitude
and direction
• Examples: displacement, velocity,
acceleration
Scalars
• Quantities which indicate only magnitude
• Examples: Time, speed, temperature,
distance
Drawing vectors
• Draw a vector as a line with an arrowhead at its tip.
• The length of the line shows the vector’s magnitude.
• The direction of the line shows the vector’s direction.

Slide 1-25
 Application of Vectors

When a plane lands on a runway with strong

winds the velocity of the plane and wind add as
two vectors (crosswind landing).
 Application of Vectors

When a plane lands on a runway with strong

winds the velocity of the plane and wind add as
two vectors (crosswind landing).
 Application of Vectors

The black arrow shows the resultant of the two

vectors which in this case is the direction in
which the plane moves.
 Adding two vectors graphically
• Two vectors may be added graphically using either the parallelogram
method or the head-to-tail method.

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 Subtracting vectors

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 Adding Three Vectors

 The black arrow shows the resultant of the three vectors.

Which of the vectors in the second row shows ?

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 3-20

 Which of the vectors in the second row shows 2  ?

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 3-27

 Vector C can be written

A. –3î + ĵ.
B. –4î + 2ĵ.
C. î – 3ĵ.
D. 2î – 4ĵ.
E. î – ĵ.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 3-47

 Multiplying a vector by a scalar

• If c is a scalar, the

product cA has
magnitude |c|A.

• Figure 1.15 illustrates

multiplication of a vector
by a positive scalar and a
negative scalar.

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 Components of a vector

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 Unit vectors
• A unit vector has a magnitude
of 1 with no units.
• The unit vector î points in the
+x-direction, j points in the +y-
j

direction, and k points in the

k

+z-direction.
• Any vector can be expressed
in terms of its components as

A =Axî+ Ay j + Az k.
k
j

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The components of a velocity vector A are Ax = 4 m/s and
Ay = 3 m/s. What is the magnitude and direction of A?

A. 7 m/s, 53o
B. 5 m/s, 53o
C. 5 m/s, 41o
D. 5 m/s, 37o
E. 25 m/s, 37o
 Positive and negative components

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 Finding components
• We can calculate the components of a vector from its magnitude
and direction.

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 Calculations using components
• We can use the components of a vector to find its magnitude
Ay
and direction: A  Ax  Ay and tan 
2 2
A x
• We can use the components of a
set of vectors to find the components
of their sum:
Rx  Ax  Bx  Cx , Ry  Ay  By  C y 

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 The scalar product—Figures 1.25–1.26
• The scalar product
(also called the “dot
product”) of two
vectors
  is
A B  AB cos.

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 Example: Calculating a scalar product

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 Example: Calculating a scalar product

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 Example: Calculating a scalar product
Method 1

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 Example: Calculating a scalar product
Method 2

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 The vector product—Figures 1.29–1.30
• The vector
product (“cross
product”) of
two vectors has
magnitude
 
| A B |  ABsin

and the right-

hand rule gives
its direction.
See Figures
1.29 and 1.30.

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 Example: Calculating the vector product

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 Example: Calculating the vector product

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 Example: Calculating the vector product
Method 1

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 Example: Calculating the vector product
Method 2

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Position as a Vector
• We can locate objects by drawing position vectors.

Slide 1-32
Slide 1-52
Tilted Axes and Arbitrary Directions

• For some problems it is convenient to tilt the axes of

the coordinate system.

Slide 3-55
 Example of applications of vectors
: How far away is Anna?

© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 1-54

 Example: How far away is Anna?
Anna walks 90 m due east and then 50 m due north. What is
her displacement from her starting point?

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 Example: How far away is Anna? (cont.)

SOLVE The vector net is the vector sum of the successive

displacements

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 Example: How far away is Anna? (cont.)

Her net displacement can be found using the Pythagorean theorem

© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 1-57

 Example: How far away is Anna? (cont.)

In the right triangle, 50 m is the opposite side and 90 m is the adjacent

side, so the angle is given by

© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 1-58