LEARNING UNIT 1

DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS
• What is a dimension-: (physics) the physical units of a quantity,
expressed in terms of fundamental quantities like time, mass and
length, e.g. "velocity has dimensions of length/time"
 INTRODUCTION TO PHYSICS
• In this chapter we discuss the concept of dimension and
the choices of units commonly used in physics. We
discuss dimensional analysis and order of magnitude
calculations, and define some mathematical notation.
• Standards of Length, Mass and Time
– Systems of Units
– Scientific Notation
• Dimensional Analysis
• Conversion of Units
• Order of Magnitude Calculations
• Mathematical Notation
• Coordinate Systems and Frames of Reference
• Problems
Standards of Length, Mass and Time
• Standards of Length, Mass and Time • This system is also referred to as the
cgs system for centimeter-gram-
• There are five basic quantities: second.
• Length (L) • British engineering system:
• mass (M) – length: foot (ft)
• time (t) – mass: slug
• electric current (I) – time: second (s)
• temperature (T)
• In the first half of the course we will only • Scientific Notation
be concerned with length, mass, & time. • It is sometimes convenient to
express large or small numbers in
• Systems of Units
• SI units (used mostly in physics): • scientific notation.
– length: meter (m) • For Example: 5,000 = 5 x 103 and
– mass: kilogram (kg) .0004 = 4 x 10-4.
– time: second (s) • Commonly used prefixes for powers
• This system is also referred to as the mks of 10 used with metric units are
sytem for meter-kilogram-second. given below in Table 1.1.
• Gaussian units (used mostly in chemistry): • For Example:
– length: centimeter (cm) a) 60,000 m = 6 x 104 m = 60 km
– mass: gram (g) b) 0.003 s = 3 x 10-3 s = 3 ms
– time: second (s)