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Chap 1

The document covers fundamental concepts in measurements, including standards of length, mass, and time, as well as dimensional analysis and unit conversion. It emphasizes the importance of significant figures and provides guidelines for estimating and calculating orders of magnitude. Additionally, it discusses model building in science and the historical development of atomic theory.

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vinhtrollmta
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8 views

Chap 1

The document covers fundamental concepts in measurements, including standards of length, mass, and time, as well as dimensional analysis and unit conversion. It emphasizes the importance of significant figures and provides guidelines for estimating and calculating orders of magnitude. Additionally, it discusses model building in science and the historical development of atomic theory.

Uploaded by

vinhtrollmta
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CONTENTS:

 Standards of Length, Mass and

Time
 Matter and Model Building

 Dimensional Analysis

 Conversion of Units

 Estimates and Order of

Magnitude Calculations
 Significant Figures
1. STANDARDS OF LENGTH, MASS AND TIME
Measurements
 Used to describe natural phenomena
 Each measurement is associated with a physical
quantity
 Need defined standards
 Characteristics of standards for measurements
 Readily accessible
 Possess some property that can be measured
reliably
 Must yield the same results when used by
anyone anywhere
 Cannot change with time
1. STANDARDS OF LENGTH, MASS AND TIME
Standards of Fundamental
Quantities

 Standardized systems
 Agreed upon by some authority,
usually a governmental body
 SI – Systéme International
 Agreed to in 1960 by an international
committee
 Main system used in this text.
1. STANDARDS OF LENGTH, MASS AND TIME
Fundamental Quantities and Their Units

Quantity SI Unit
Length meter (m)
Mass kilogram (kg)
Time second (s)
Temperature Kelvin (K)
Electric Current Ampere
Luminous Intensity Candela
Amount of Substance mole
1. STANDARDS OF LENGTH, MASS AND TIME
Length
 Length is the distance between two points in space.
 Units
 SI – meter, m
 Defined in terms of a meter – the distance traveled by
light in a vacuum during a given time (1/299.792.458 s)

Mass
 Units
 SI – kilogram, kg
 Defined in terms of a kilogram, based on a
specific cylinder kept at the International
Bureau of Standards
1. STANDARDS OF LENGTH, MASS AND TIME

 Units
 Seconds, s
Time  Defined in terms of the oscillation of radiation from
a cesium atom

 Prefixes correspond to powers of 10.


 Each prefix has a specific name.
 Each prefix has a specific abbreviation.
Prefixes  The prefixes can be used with any basic units.
 They are multipliers of the basic unit.
 Examples (table 1.4)
 1 mm = 10-3 m
 1 mg = 10-3 g
1. STANDARDS OF LENGTH, MASS AND TIME

The standard kilogram is a platinum-


iridium cylinder 39.0 mm in height
Example: and 39.0 mm in diameter. What is
the density of the material?

The volume:

V  (base area)(height)   r 2  h
Density:
m m 1kg  109 mm3 
    
V  r  h  19.5mm  (39.0mm)  1m 
2 2 3

   2.15x104 kg / m3
2. MATTER AND MODEL BUILDING
Model Building
 A model is a system of physical components.
 Useful when you cannot interact directly
with the phenomenon
 Identifies the physical components
 Makes predictions about the behavior of
the system
 The predictions will be based on
interactions among the components
and/or
 Based on the interactions between the
components and the environment
2. MATTER AND MODEL BUILDING
Models of Matter

 Some Greeks thought matter is made


of atoms.
 No additional structure
 JJ Thomson (1897) found electrons
and showed atoms had structure.
 Rutherford (1911) determined a
central nucleus surrounded by electrons.
3.DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS
Basic Quantities and Their Dimension
 Dimension has a specific meaning – it denotes the
physical nature of a quantity.
 Dimensions are often denoted with square brackets.
 Length [L]
 Mass [M]
 Time [T]

Dimensions and Units


 Each dimension can have many actual units.
 Table 1.5 for the dimensions and units of some derived quantities
3.DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS
Dimensional Analysis
 Given the equation: x = ½ at 2
 Check dimensions on each side:
L 2
L  2 T L
T
 The T2’s cancel, leaving L for the dimensions
of each side.
 The equation is dimensionally correct.
 There are no dimensions for the
constant.
 Example: Suppose we are told that the acceleration a of a
particle moving with uniform speed v in a circle of radius r is
proportional to some power of r, say rn, and some power of v,
say vm. Determine the values of n and m and write the simplest
form of an equation for the acceleration.
4. CONVERSION OF UNITS
Conversion of Units
 When units are not consistent, you may need
to convert to appropriate ones.
 See Appendix A for an extensive list of
conversion factors.
 Units can be treated like algebraic quantities
that can cancel each other out.

Conversion factors between SI and U.S. customary units of length:

1 mile = 1 609 m = 1.609 km 1 ft = 0.304 8 m = 30.48 cm


1 m = 39.37 in. = 3.281 ft 1 in. = 0.025 4 m = 2.54 cm
4. CONVERSION OF UNITS
Conversion
 Always include units for every quantity, you
can carry the units through the entire calculation.
 Will help detect possible errors
 Multiply original value by a ratio equal to one.
 Example:
15.0 in  ? cm
 2.54 cm 
15.0 in    38.1cm
 1in 
 Note the value inside the parentheses is
equal to 1, since 1 inch is defined as 2.54
cm.
5. ESTIMATES AND ORDER-OF-MAGNITUDE CALCULATIONS

Order of Magnitude
 Approximation based on a number of assumptions
 May need to modify assumptions if more precise
results are needed
 The order of magnitude is the power of 10 that applies.

Order of Magnitude – Process


 Estimate a number and express it in scientific notation.
 The multiplier of the power of 10 needs to be between 1
and 10.
Compare the multiplier to 3.162 ( 10 )
 If the remainder is less than 3.162, the order of magnitude is
the power of 10 in the scientific notation.
 If the remainder is greater than 3.162, the order of
magnitude is one more than the power of 10 in the
scientific notation.
6. SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
Significant Figures
 A significant figure is one that is reliably known.
 Zeros may or may not be significant.
 Those used to position the decimal point are
not significant.
To remove ambiguity, use scientific notation.
 In a measurement, the significant figures include
the first estimated digit.

Example: 1500 m is ambiguous:


 Use 1.5 x 103 m for 2 significant figures
 Use 1.50 x 103 m for 3 significant figures
 Use 1.500 x 103 m for 4 significant figures
6. SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
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.
 Example: 25.57 m x 2.45 m = 62.6 m2
 The 2.45 m limits your result to 3 significant figures.

 When adding or subtracting, the number of decimal


places in the result should equal the smallest number of
decimal places in any term in the sum or difference.
 Example: 135 cm + 3.25 cm = 138 cm
 The 135 cm limits your answer to the units decimal
value.
6. SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
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.
 Saving rounding until the final result will help
eliminate accumulation of errors.
 It is useful to perform the solution in algebraic form
and wait until the end to enter numerical values.
 This saves keystrokes as well as minimizes
rounding.

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