1.1-1.6 HW

3/10/2018 1.1-1.
6 HW
1.11.6 HW
Due: 7:59am on Tuesday, February 6, 2018
You will receive no credit for items you complete after the assignment is due. Grading Policy
Dimensions of Physical Quantities
Learning Goal:
To introduce the idea of physical dimensions and to learn how to find them.
Physical quantities are generally not purely numerical: They have a particular dimension or combination of dimensions
associated with them. Thus, your height is not 74, but rather 74 inches, often expressed as 6 feet 2 inches. Although feet and
inches are different units they have the same dimensionlength.
Part A
In classical mechanics there are three base dimensions. Length is one of them. What are the other two?
Hint 1. MKS system
The current system of units is called the International System (abbreviated SI from the French Système
International). In the past this system was called the mks system for its base units: meter, kilogram, and second.
What are the dimensions of these quantities?
ANSWER:
acceleration and mass

acceleration and time

acceleration and charge

mass and time

mass and charge

time and charge
Correct
There are three dimensions used in mechanics: length ( l), mass ( m), and time ( t). A combination of these three dimensions
suffices to express any physical quantity, because when a new physical quantity is needed (e.g., velocity), it always obeys an
equation that permits it to be expressed in terms of the units used for these three dimensions. One then derives a unit to
measure the new physical quantity from that equation, and often its unit is given a special name. Such new dimensions are
called derived dimensions and the units they are measured in are called derived units.
2
For example, area A has derived dimensions [A] = l . (Note that "dimensions of variable x" is symbolized as [x] .) You can find
these dimensions by looking at the formula for the area of a square A = s2 , where s is the length of a side of the square. Clearly
2 2
[s] = l . Plugging this into the equation gives [A] = [s] = l .
Part B
Find the dimensions [V ] of volume.
https://session.masteringphysics.com/myct/assignmentPrintView?assignmentID=6093041 1/14
3/10/2018 1.1-1.6 HW
Express your answer as powers of length ( l), mass ( m), and time ( t).
Hint 1. Equation for volume
You have likely learned many formulas for the volume of various shapes in geometry. Any of these equations will give
you the dimensions for volume. You can find the dimensions most easily from the volume of a cube V = e3 , where e
is the length of the edge of the cube.
ANSWER:
[V ] = l
3
Correct
Part C
Find the dimensions [v] of speed.
Hint 1. Equation for speed
Speed v is defined in terms of distance d and time t as
d
v= .
t
Therefore, [v] = [d]/[t] .
Hint 2. Familiar units for speed
You are probably accustomed to hearing speeds in miles per hour (or possibly kilometers per hour). Think about the
dimensions for miles and hours. If you divide the dimensions for miles by the dimensions for hours, you will have the
dimensions for speed.
ANSWER:
l
[v] =
t
Correct
The dimensions of a quantity are not changed by addition or subtraction of another quantity with the same dimensions. This
means that Δv , which comes from subtracting two speeds, has the same dimensions as speed.
It does not make physical sense to add or subtract two quanitites that have different dimensions, like length plus time. You can
add quantities that have different units, like miles per hour and kilometers per hour, as long as you convert both quantities to the
same set of units before you actually compute the sum. You can use this rule to check your answers to any physics problem you
work. If the answer involves the sum or difference of two quantities with different dimensions, then it must be incorrect.
This rule also ensures that the dimensions of any physical quantity will never involve sums or differences of the base dimensions.
(As in the preceeding example, l + t is not a valid dimension for a physical quantitiy.) A valid dimension will only involve the
2
product or ratio of powers of the base dimensions (e.g. m2/3 l t−2 ).
3/10/2018 1.1-1.6 HW
Part D
Find the dimensions [a] of acceleration.
Hint 1. Equation for acceleration
In physics, acceleration a is defined as the change in velocity in a certain time. This is shown by the equation
a = Δv/Δt. The Δ is a symbol that means "the change in."
ANSWER:
l
[a] = 2
t
Correct
Exercise 1.3
Part A
How many nanoseconds does it take light to travel 1.00 f t in vacuum?
ANSWER:
t = 1.02 ns
Correct
Exercise 1.12
Part A
The recommended daily allowance (RDA) of the trace metal magnesium is 410 mg/day for males. Express this quantity in
μg/day .
Express your answer using two significant figures.
ANSWER:
4.1×105 μg/day
Correct
3/10/2018 1.1-1.6 HW
Part B
For adults, the RDA of the amino acid lysine is 12 mg per kg of body weight. How many grams per day should a 80 kg
adult receive?
ANSWER:
0.96 g/day
Correct
Part C
A typical multivitamin tablet can contain 2.0 mg of vitamin B2 (riboflavin), and the RDA is 0.0030 g/day. How many such
tablets should a person take each day to get the proper amount of this vitamin, assuming that he gets none from any other
sources?
Express your answer as an integer.
ANSWER:
2 tablets
Correct
Part D
The RDA for the trace element selenium is 0.000070 g/day. Express this dose in mg/day.
ANSWER:
7.0×10−2 mg/day
Correct
Significant Figures Conceptual Question
In the parts that follow select whether the number presented in statement A is greater than, less than, or equal to the number
presented in statement B. Be sure to follow all of the rules concerning significant figures.
Part A
Statement A: 2.567 km, to two significant figures.
Statement B: 2.567 km, to three significant figures.
3/10/2018 1.1-1.6 HW
Determine the correct relationship between the statements.
Hint 1. Rounding and significant figures
Rounding to a different number of significant figures changes a number. For example, consider the number 3.4536.
This number has five significant figures. The following table illustrates the result of rounding this number to different
numbers of significant figures:
Four significant figures ⟹ 3.454
Three significant figures ⟹ 3.45
Two significant figures ⟹ 3.5
One significant figure ⟹ 3
Notice that, when rounding 3.4536 to one significant figure, since 0.4536 is less than 0.5, the result is 3, even though
if you first rounded to two significant figures (3.5), the result would be 4.
ANSWER:
greater than
Statement A is less than Statement B.

equal to
Correct
Part B
Statement A: (2.567 km + 3.146 km), to two significant figures.
Statement B: (2.567 km, to two significant figures) + (3.146 km, to two significant figures).
ANSWER:
greater than

equal to
Correct
Evaluate statement A as follows: (2.567 km + 3.146 km ) = 5.713 km to two significant figures is 5.7 km .
Statement B evaluates as 2.6 km + 3.1 km = 5.7 km . Therefore, the two statements are equal.
Part C
3/10/2018 1.1-1.6 HW
Statement A: Area of a rectangle with measured length = 2.536 m and width = 1.4 m.
Statement B: Area of a rectangle with measured length = 2.536 m and width = 1.41 m.
Since you are not told specific numbers of significant figures to round to, you must use the rules for multiplying numbers
while respecting significant figures. If you need a reminder, consult the hint.
Hint 1. Significant figures and multiplication
When you multiply two numbers, the result should be rounded to the number of significant figures in the less accurate
of the two numbers. For instance, if you multiply 2.413 (four significant figures) times 3.81 (three significant figures),
the result should have three significant figures: 2.413 × 3.81 = 9.19. Similarly, 2 × 7.664323 = 20 , when
significant figures are respected (i.e., 15.328646 rounded to one significant figure).
ANSWER:
greater than

equal to
Correct
Evaluate statement A as follows: (2.536 m ) (1.4 m ) = 3.5504 m2 to two significant figures is 3.6 m2 . Statement
B evaluates as (2.536 m ) (1.41 m ) = 3.57576 m2 to three significant figures is 3.58 m2 . Therefore, statement A
is greater than statement B.
Exercise 1.20
Four astronauts are in a spherical space station.
Part A
If, as is typical, each of them breathes about 500 cm3 of air with each breath, approximately what volume of air (in cubic
meters) do these astronauts breathe in a year?
ANSWER:
2 3
1 × 10 m
3 3
1 × 10 m
4 3
1 × 10 m
5 3
1 × 10 m
Correct
3/10/2018 1.1-1.6 HW
Part B
What would the diameter (in meters) of the space station have to be to contain all this air?
ANSWER:
3 m
30 m
300 m
3000 m
Correct
Exercise 1.10
The following conversions occur frequently in physics and are very useful.
Part A
Use 1 mi = 5280 f t and 1 h = 3600 s to convert 60 mph to units of f t/s.
ANSWER:
88 f t/s
Correct
Part B
The acceleration of a freely falling object is 32 f t/s2 . Use 1 f t = 30.48 cm to express this acceleration in units of m/s2 .
ANSWER:
9.8 m/s2
Correct
Part C
The density of water is 1.0 g/cm3 . Convert this density to units of kg/m3 .
ANSWER:
3/10/2018 1.1-1.6 HW
1000 kg/m3
Correct
Exercise 1.14
With a wooden ruler you measure the length of a rectangular piece of sheet metal to be 13 mm . You use micrometer calipers to
measure the width of the rectangle and obtain the value 6.01 mm . Give your answers to the following questions to the correct
number of significant figures.
Part A
What is the area of the rectangle?
ANSWER:
A = 78 mm2
Correct
Part B
What is the ratio of the rectangle's width to its length?
ANSWER:
width
= 0.46
length
Correct
Part C
What is the perimeter of the rectangle?
ANSWER:
P = 38 mm
Correct
Part D
What is the difference between the length and width?
ANSWER:
3/10/2018 1.1-1.6 HW
Δ = 7 mm
Correct
Part E
What is the ratio of the length to the width?
ANSWER:
length
= 2.2
width
Correct
Exercise 1.2
According to the label on a bottle of salad dressing, the volume of the contents is 0.473 liter (L).
Part A
Using only the conversions 1 L = 1000 cm
3
and 1 in = 2.54 cm , express this volume in cubic inches.
ANSWER:
28.9 in3
Correct
Converting between Different Units
Unit conversion problems can seem tedious and unnecessary at times. However, different systems of units are used in different
parts of the world, so when dealing with international transactions, documents, software, etc., unit conversions are often
necessary.
Here is a simple example. The inhabitants of a small island begin exporting beautiful cloth made from a rare plant that grows only
on their island. Seeing how popular the small quantity that they export has been, they steadily raise their prices. A clothing maker
from New York, thinking that he can save money by "cutting out the middleman," decides to travel to the small island and buy the
cloth himself. Ignorant of the local custom of offering strangers outrageous prices and then negotiating down, the clothing maker
accepts (much to everyone's surpise) the initial price of 400 tepizes/m2 . The price of this cloth in New York is 120
2
dollars/yard .
Part A
If the clothing maker bought 500 m2 of this fabric, how much money did he lose? Use 1 tepiz = 0.625 dollar and

0.9144 m = 1 yard .
Express your answer in dollars using two significant figures.
3/10/2018 1.1-1.6 HW
Hint 1. How to approach the problem
To find how much money the clothing maker loses, you must find how much money he spent and how much he would
have spent in New York. Furthermore, since the problem asks how much he lost in dollars, you need to determine
both in dollars. This will require unit conversions.
Hint 2. Find how much he paid
2
If the clothing maker bought 500 m2 at a cost of 400 tepizes/m , then simple multiplication will give how much he
spent in tepizes. Once you've found that, convert to dollars. How much did the clothing maker spend in dollars?
Express your answer in dollars to three significant figures.
Hint 1. Find how much he paid in tepizes
2
If the clothing maker bought 500 m2 at a cost of 400 tepizes/m , then how much did he pay in total, in
tepizes?
Express your answer in tepizes.
ANSWER:
2.00×105 tepizes
ANSWER:
1.25×105 dollars
Hint 3. Find the price in New York
2
You know that the price of the fabric in New York is 120 dollars/yard . Thus, you need only to find the number of
square yards that the clothing maker purchased and then multiply to find the price in New York. What would it have
cost him to buy the fabric in New York?
Express your answer in dollars to three significant figures.
Hint 1. Determine how much cloth he bought in yard2
2
You are given that 0.9144 m = 1 yard . Squaring both sides, you would get that 0.8361 m
2
= 1 yard .
How much is 500 m2 ?
2
Express your answer in yard to three significant figures.
ANSWER:
598 yard2
ANSWER:
3/10/2018 1.1-1.6 HW
7.18×104 dollars
ANSWER:
5.3×104 dollars
Correct
Still think that unit conversion isn't important?
Here is a widely publicized, true story about how failing to convert units resulted in a huge loss. In 1998, the Mars Climate Orbiter
probe crashed into the surface of Mars, instead of entering orbit. The resulting inquiry revealed that NASA navigators had been
making minor course corrections in SI units, whereas the software written by the probe's makers implicitly used British units. In
the United States, most scientists use SI units, whereas most engineers use the British, or Imperial, system of units.
(Interestingly, British units are not used in Britain.) For these two groups to be able to communicate to one another, unit
conversions are necessary.
The unit of force in the SI system is the newton (N), which is defined in terms of basic SI units as 1 N = 1 kg ⋅ m/s2 . The unit

of force in the British system is the pound (lb), which is defined in terms of the slug (British unit of mass), foot (f t), and second (
s) as 1 lb = 1 slug ⋅ f t/s .
2
Part B
Find the value of 15.0 N in pounds. Use the conversions 1 and 1
slug = 14.59 kg f t = 0.3048 m .
Express your answer in pounds to three significant figures.
When doing a unit conversion, you should begin by comparing the units you are starting with and the units you need
to finish with. In this problem, we have the following:
Starting unitsFinal units
kg⋅m slug⋅f t
s2 s2
Notice that both have seconds squared in the denominator. You will only have to change the units in the numerator.
Match up the units that measure the same quantity (e.g., kilograms and slugs both measure mass). Once you've
done this, create a fraction (e.g., 1 hour/60 minutes) based on conversion factors such that the old unit is
canceled out of the expression and the new unit appears in the position (i.e., numerator or denominator) of the old
unit. In this problem, there are two pairs within the starting and final units that must be converted in this way (i.e.,
kilograms/slugs and meters/feet).
Hint 2. Calculate the first conversion
The first step is to eliminate kilograms from the expression for newtons in favor of slugs. What is the value of 15
kg ⋅ m/s in slug ⋅ m/s ?
2 2
Express your answer in slugmeters per second squared to four significant figures.
ANSWER:
1.028
3/10/2018 1.1-1.6 HW
ANSWER:
15.0 N = 3.37 lb
Correct
Thus, if the NASA navigators believed that they were entering a force value of 15 N (3.37 lb), they were actually
entering a value nearly four and a half times higher, 15 lb. Though these errors were only in tiny course
corrections, they added up during the trip of many millions of kilometers.
In the end, the blame for the loss of the 125milliondollar probe was placed on the lack of communication between
people at NASA that allowed the units mismatch to go unnoticed. Nonetheless, this story makes apparent how
important it is to carefully label the units used to measure a number.
Neptunium
In the fall of 2002, a group of scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory determined that the critical mass of neptunium237 is
about 60.0 kg. The critical mass of a fissionable material is the minimum amount that must be brought together to start a chain
reaction. Neptunium237 has a density of 19.5 g/cm3 .
Part A
What would be the radius r of a sphere of neptunium237 that has a critical mass?
Express your answer in centimeters to three significant figures.
You have the mass and the density in incompatible units. So, you need to convert one to make them compatible.
Mass is a simpler unit, so it will probably be easier to convert it. Once you have the two in compatible units, use the
definition of density and the volume of a sphere to determine the necessary radius in centimeters.
Hint 2. Convert the critical mass to grams
Since the density is given in grams per cubic centimeter, convert the critical mass into grams. Use the fact that
1 kg = 1000 g .
Express your answer in grams to three significant figures.
ANSWER:
mass = 60000 g
Hint 3. Find the needed volume
The density ρ of a material is the ratio of its mass m to its volume V (i.e., ρ = m/V ). Solve this equation for V and
then plug in the critical mass in grams with the density in grams per cubic centimeter to get the necessary volume.
Express your answer in cubic centimeters to three significant figures.
ANSWER:
3/10/2018 1.1-1.6 HW
V = 3080 cm3
Hint 4. Volume of a sphere
Recall that the volume of a sphere is given by the equation
4 3
V = πr ,
3
where r is the radius of the sphere. Use the necessary volume, which you've found previously, to determine the
radius of the sphere.
ANSWER:
r = 9.02 cm
Correct
Exercise 1.15
A useful and easytoremember approximate value for the number of seconds in a year is π × 10 7 .
Part A
Determine the percent error in this approximate value. (There are 365.24 days in one year.)
ANSWER:
0.446 %
Correct
Exercise 1.13
Part A
Figure 1.7 in the textbook shows the result of unacceptable error in the stopping position of a train. If a train travels 893 km
from Berlin to Paris and then overshoots the end of the track by 13 m , what is the percentage error in the total distance
covered?
ANSWER:
1.5×10−3 %
Correct
3/10/2018 1.1-1.6 HW
Part B
Is it correct to write the total distance covered by the train as 893013 m?
ANSWER:
Yes, it's correct.
No, it's incorrect.
Correct
Part C
Explain.
ANSWER:
3590 Character(s) remaining
It’s not correct to write the total distance covered in terms of
kilo meters mainly because once you are capable of writing
the value in terms of kilo meters, reverting back to meters will
confuse the conductor
Submitted, grade pending
Score Summary:
Your score on this assignment is 101%.

You received 12.12 out of a possible total of 12 points.

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3/10/2018 1.1-1.

t = 1.02 ns

Statement A is less than Statement B.

Statement A is less than Statement B.

Statement A is less than Statement B.

If the clothing maker bought 500 m2 of this fabric, how much money did he lose? Use 1 tepiz = 0.625 dollar and

The unit of force in the SI system is the newton (N), which is defined in terms of basic SI units as 1 N = 1 kg ⋅ m/s2 . The unit

15.0 N = 3.37 lb

mass = 60000 g

V = 3080 cm3

r = 9.02 cm

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