MEASUREMENT Basics

Units, Unit Systems, Standards

 Measurement
When you can measure what you are speaking about & express it
in numbers you know something about it; when you cannot express it
in numbers your knowledge is of a meagre & unsatisfactory kind
- Lord Kelvin

Essentially, a result of comparison between the quantity (unknown

result) and a pre defined standard
Physical quantity Meaningful Numbers

Criteria values

Level of measurement (magnitude)

Dimensions (units)

Uncertainty
 Prerequisites for a meaningful measurement

Standard Used Accurately designed, defined & commonly accepted

Apparatus / Methods - Must be commonly accepted

Methods of Measurement

Direct Method : Measurand is directly compared against a standard

(Less Sensitive, Less Accurate accounting to human errors)

Indirect Method : Measuring Instruments are used as a means of

determining quantities
 An Instrument gives an Output Reading/Signal according to the
unknown variable applied to it.

Classification

Mechanical : Reliable only for static, stable conditions. Slow

response to transient/dynamic change e.g. Calipers, Scales etc . . .

Electrical : Mainly used for indicating o/p of detectors e.g. Energy

Meter, Voltmeter etc .

Electronic : Very fast response time, higher sensitivity, very flexible,

low power consumption. e.g. CRO
 Unit & Unit Systems

Definition: A unit is a standard measure of each kind of physical

quantity

Measurement KIND & MAGNITUDE

e.g. 10 metres

Units are mainly divided as follows

Fundamental

Derived
 Fundamental Units

Units that are independently chosen & are very fundamental in

nature

e.g. Length, Mass, Time

 Derived Units

Units which can be expressed in terms of fundamental units with the

help of physical equations are called as derived units.
e.g. Area, Force, Pressure etc . .
 Unit Systems

CGS System: Centimetre - Gramme Second

MKS System: Metre Kilogramm - Second

SI: System International

 CGS System
Centimeter Gram Second system - Adopted in the 1800s

In addition to the 3 fundamental units they use a fourth quantity based

on experimentally observed facts of electrostatics or electromagnetics

Electrostatic Unit System (E.S.U)

Electromagnetic Unit System (E.M.U)

Practical Units
 Electrostatic Units (E.S.U) - Fourth Quantity is Permittivity of the
medium
L, M, T,

Electromagnetic Units (E.M.U) - Fourth Quantity is Permeability of

the medium

L, M, T,

Practical Units : For practical work fixed units are used(some derived
units are found too large or too small)

e.g. Practical Unit of Resistance - 109 CGS E.M.U Resistance

 MKS System
Metre Kilogram Second - Adopted in the early 1900s by Prof. Giorgio
- To overcome the disadvantages of CGS system

The fourth unit adopted here was Permeability

L, M, T,

Permeability of free space = 107 (MKS)

Permeability of free space = 1 (CGS)

Therefore, Permeability of MKS unit = 107 Permeability of CGS unit

 SI
International System of Units Adopted in the late 20th century is the
only modern metric system being followed today

This system consists of

7 Base Units

2 Supplementary Units

27 derived units
 Base Units

These are the 7 base units from which other units are
derived!
 Derived Units

These are units derived

from the fundamental /
base units
 Standard
A standard is a defined physical representation of a unit of
measurement

Fundamental reference for any metric system against which an

unknown quantity is calibrated/measured

For any unit to be realized it has to have a reference against a

material standard or a natural phenomenon
 Classification of standards
Based on Functions & Applications, standards are classified as
follows

International Standards

Primary Standards

Secondary Standards

Working Standards
 International Standards

Units of measurement which are closest to the possible accuracy

attainable with the present day technology & science

Defined on the basis of international agreement

Checked & evaluated regularly against absolute measurements

Not available to an ordinary user

Maintained by International Bureau of Weights & Measures

 Primary Standards

Standards of very high accuracy that used as the ultimate reference

standards

Maintained by National Standards Laboratory in different parts of

the world

These are compared with one another and the average of them is
used as Primary Standard

Main function Verification of Secondary Standards

Important Qualities needed: High degree of Accuracy, High Stability,

Very low variations
 Secondary Standards

Basic reference standards used in Industrial Measurement

Laboratories

Responsibility of maintenance & calibration of standards lie within

the Industry - Sent periodically for reference calibration against
primary standards

Maintained by Industrial Measurement Laboratories

Working Standards

Major tools used in measurement laboratories.

Mainly used for checking & calibrating general laboratory

instruments for performance & accuracy