UNITS AND MEASUREMENTS
- Physical Quantity-
- Types of Physical Quantity-
- Fundamental quantities : The physical quantities which do not depend upon other physical quantities are called fundamental or base physical quantities. e.g. mass, length, time temperature electric current, luminous intensity and amount of substance.
- Derived quantities : The physical quantities which depend on fundamental quantities are called derived quantities
e.g. speed, acceleration, force, etc.
- Unit-
- Unit is the standard quantity used for comparison.
- The chosen standard for measurement of a physical quantity is called the unit of that quantity.
- Every measured quantity (its magnitude) comprises of a number and a unit. Ex: In the measurement of length, say 20 m. Where 20 is the numeral while m is unit (meter).
- Fundamental Units-
- Fundamental Units are those, which are independent of units of any other Physical quantity.
- Fundamental units are those, which cannot be resolved into any other unit.
- Examples - kilogram(kg), meter(m), second(s), etc.
- Derived Units-
- All units other than fundamental units are known as derived units.
- Basically derived units are depend on the fundamental units.
- Examples-
- Unit of speed which depends on the unit of distance and unit of second (m/s).
- System Of Units-
- System of is the combination of Fundamental Units and Derived Units for all Physical Quantity.
- Types of System of Units-
- F.P.S. (Foot-Pound-Second) System- It is British Engineering system of units.
- In this system Length measures in Foot, Mass measure in Pound and Time measures in Second.
- C.G.S. (Centimeter-Gram-Second)- It is Gaussian system of units.
- In this system Length measures in Centimeters, Mass measures gram and Time measures in Second.
- M.K.S. (Meter-Kilogram-Second)- It is related to Mechanics only.
- In this system Length measures in Meter, Mass Measure in Kilogram and Time Measures in Second.
- S.I. (International System)-
- To avoid the confusion with the various units measured by different methods by different countries the International System is introduced in 1971.
- Through which seven Physical quantities have been chosen as a fundamental
- physical quantities and two as a supplementary quantities.
- Method of writing of Units and their symbols-
- Unit is never written in CAPITAL initial letter.
- If the unit is named after scientist name then only it can be written in Capital initial letter form.
- Unit is never written in plurals form.
- Punctuation marks are not written after the symbol.
- S.I. Prefixes-
What is the unit for Large distances? (Macro-Cosm)
Light year: It is the distance travelled by the light in vacuum in one year.
1 ly = 9.46 × 1015m (ly= light year).
Astronomical unit: It is the average distance of the centre of the sun from the centre of the earth.
1 A.U. = 1.496 × 1011m.
Parsec: One parsec is the distance at which an arc 1A.U. long subtends an angle of one second.
1 parsec = 3.1 × 1016m.
What is the unit for heavy mass?
1 ton = 1000kg
1 quintal = 100kg
1 slug = 14.57kg
1 C.S.L (chandrasekhar limit) = 1.4 times the mass of the sun.
What is the unit for large time?
Lunar month: It is the time taken by the earth to complete one rotation about its axis with respect to sun.
1L.M. = 27.3 days.
Solar day: It is the time taken by the earth to complete one rotation about its axis with respect to sun.
Sedrial day: It is the time taken by earth to complete one rotation on its axis with respect to distant star.
What is the unit for very small distance? (Micro-Cosm)
1 micron = 10–6m.
1 nanometre = 10–9m.
1 angstorm = 10–10m.
1 fermi = 10–15m.
What is the unit for small area?
1 barn = 10–28m2.
What is the unit for small mass?
1 amu = 1.67 x 10–27kg.
1 pound = 453.6g = 0.4536 kg.
What is the unit for small time?
1 shake = 10–8s
What is the unit for measuring for pressure?
1 bar = 1atm pressure = 105N/m2 = 760mmHg
1torr = 1 mmHg
1 Poiseuille = 10 Poise.