J ohn Ellison, UCR p.

1
Notes: Lecture 1
Base Units and Derived Units
Standards are associated with base units, and measurement of a
physical quantity takes place by comparison with a standard. We will
mostly use SI units (the name comes form the French: Systme
International d'Units). The SI system has the base units of meters
(m) for length, seconds (s) for time, and kilograms (kg) for mass. The
SI system is popularly known as the metric system.
Derived units are combinations of base units. For example, the unit
of power (energy per unit time) is the watt:
Other examples of derived units are:
Since a wide range of magnitudes of physical quantities are
encountered, powers of 10 are commonly used. For example, the
prefix k stands for "kilo" and means 1000:
This can also be written using scientific notation as
The value 0.0032 m would be expressed as 3.210
-3
m. In order to
meet the demands for higher precision, the meter was redefined in
1983 to a derived unit: 1 meter =the distance traveled by light in a
vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 s. The base unit is
now the the precisely measured speed of light c:
Conversion of Units
The SI system is the favored system used by scientists and engineers,
but other systems of units are encountered in everyday life. The
British system is common in the USA (but no longer in Britain!).
Units can easily be converted from one system to another. We use a
method called chain-link conversion, in which we multiply the
original measurement by a conversion factor (a ratio of units that is
equal to unity.) For example, because 1 inch =2.54 cm, we have
This is the conversion factor we multiply by to convert from inches
to centimeters. For example,
Many useful conversion factors are listed in Appendix A of the
textbook.
Example
A submarine is diving at a speed of 36.5 fathoms per minute.
Express this speed in meters per second. A fathom (fath) is precisely
6 ft.
Solution
We use the chain-link method to convert minutes to seconds,
fathoms to feet, and feet to meters:
Unit of area: m
2
Unit of volume: m
3
Unit of mass density: kg/ m
3
36.5fath/min =

36.5
fath
min

1min
60s

6ft
1fath

1 m
3.28ft

= 1.11 m/s
2.54 cm
1inch
= 1
3.2 km = 3.2kilometer = 3.2 1000m = 3200 m
c = 299782 458m/s
3200 m = 3.210
3
m
4.5 inches = 4.5inch

2.54 cm
1inch

= 11.43cm
1 watt = 1 W = 1kgm
2
/ s
3
J ohn Ellison, UCR p. 1
J ohn Ellison, UCR p. 2
Small (atomic scale) masses are usually measured in terms of a
second mass standard - the mass of an atom of carbon-12, which has
been assigned a mass of 12 atomic mass units (u).
Example
A hydrogen atom has a mass of 1.0 u and an oxygen atom has a mass
of 16 u, approximately. (a) What is the mass in kg of one molecule
of water (H
2
O)? (b) How many molecules of water are in the world's
oceans, which have an estimated total mass of 1.4 10
21
kg?
Solution
(a) In atomic mass units, the mass of one molecule of water is 16 +1
+1 =18 u. Using the conversion factor
we find that the mass of one molecule of water is
(b) We divide the total mass by the mass of each molecule and
obtain the (approximate) number of water molecules:
Example
Grains of California beach sand are approximately spheres with an
average radius of r =50 m and are made of silicon dioxide. A solid
cube of silicon dioxide with a volume of 1.00 m
3
has a mass of 2600
kg. What mass of sand grains would have a total surface area (the
total area of all the individual spheres) equal to the surface area of a
cube 1 m on an edge?
Solution
The prefix stands for "micro" or 10
6
. Therefore, the surface area
of a single grain of sand is
The surface area of a cube of 1 m edge is (6 sides 1 m
2
) =6 m
2
,
and the number of grains of sand N which have a total surface area
of 6 m
2
is
We now introduce the notion of density , defined as the mass per
unit volume of a substance. For silicon dioxide we have
Therefore, the mass of each grain is
Therefore, the total mass M is given by
1.410
21
kg
3.010
26
kg
510
46
A = 4r
2
= 45010
6
m
2
= 3.1410
8
m
2
M = N m = 1.9110
8
1.3610
9
kg = 0.260 kg
1 u = 1.660540210
27
kg
18u

1.660540210
27
kg
1u

= 3.010
26
kg
N =
6 m
2
surface area of one grain
=
6m
2
3.1410
8
m
2
= 1.9110
8
=
M
V
=
2600 kg
1m
3
= 2600 kg/m
3
m = volume of one grain =
4r
3
3
= 2600 kg/m
3

45010
6
m
3
3
= 1.3610
9
kg
J ohn Ellison, UCR p. 3
Measurement Precision and Significant Figures
When we make a measurement of any quantity we do so only with
limited precision. For example if we measure the length L of an
object with 1 mm precision we may find
Since the precision of the measurement is 1 mm we may quote this
with an experimental error:
which means the that the true value is unlikely to be less than 19.5
cm or greater than 19.7 cm.
Suppose we draw a circle and measure the diameter and
circumference to be 119 mm and 374 mm. The ratio is used to
estimate :
This result is quoted to seven significant figures (the number of
meaningful digits in a number). At first sight, this does not agree
with the true value, which to seven significant figures is =
3.141593. However, when numbers are multiplied or divided the
number of significant figures in the result is no greater than the
factor with the least number of significant figures. So we should
ignore the "2857" in the result above and just quote it as 3.14 (three
significant figures), which does agree with the true value of to
three significant figures.
For addition and subtraction we have to consider the number of
decimal places. For example, we would write 102.5 cm +6.31 cm =
108.8 cm. Since 102.5 is only precise to the nearest tenth (0.1), the
result is also only precise to the nearest tenth.
Problem Solving
Tips for solving problems:
Read the problem more than once.
Make sure you understand the problem. Can you explain it in
your own words?
Draw a diagram and identify the known quantities and the
unknown quantities.
Identify the concepts underlying the problem.
Deduce the relationship between the unknown quantities and
the known quantities, i.e. find the relevant equations.
When substituting values into equations make sure the units are
correct.
Is your answer reasonable? Is it far too small or far too large?
Are the units correct?
Always double check your work.
L = 19.6cm
L = 19.60.1cm
=
circumference
diameter
=
374 mm
119 mm
= 3.142857