WARANGOI SECONDARY SCHOOL GR 11 PHYSICS..

MR MAION 2020

Unit 11.1 MEASUREMENTS

11.1.1: Quantities and Units

Fundamental and Derived Units

International System of Units

Scientific Notations and Significant Figures

Converting Units

Vector and Scalar Quantities

11.1.2: Dimensional Analysis

Dimensional Analysis

11.1.3: Error Analysis

Error Analysis

11.1.4: Graphs

Graphs
 WARANGOI SECONDARY SCHOOL GR 11 PHYSICS.. MR MAION 2020

Fundamental and Derived Units

A physical quantity is anything that can be measured and are expressed in terms of a
numerical value or magnitude and a unit. Examples are area and the unit is square metre
(m^2), and speed which is expressed in a unit metre per second (m/s).
 WARANGOI SECONDARY SCHOOL GR 11 PHYSICS.. MR MAION 2020

The table below lists the seven base units of the SI system

International System of Units

An internationally agreed system of units is necessary to standardize measurement of these

quantities, and such a system is now in general use.

The table below is presented for easy understanding.

 WARANGOI SECONDARY SCHOOL GR 11 PHYSICS.. MR MAION 2020

Significant Figures and Scientific Notation

Significant figures (sig. figs) are those digits in a number or measurement that are not being
used and considered as place-values. Zeroes are not significant if they are used only to
indicate the position of the decimal point.

Here are the Rules for Significant Figures which will help you to understand them better.

a. All non-zero figures are significant: 25.4 has three significant figures.

b. All zeros between non-zeros are significant: 30.08 has four significant figures.

c. Zeros to the right of a non-zero figure but to the left of the decimal point are not
significant (unless specified with a bar): 109 000 has three significant figures.

d. Zeros to the right of a decimal point but to the left of a non-zero figure are not significant:
0.050, only the last zero is significant; the first zero merely calls attention to the decimal
point.

e. Zeros to the right of the decimal point and following a non-zero figure are significant:
304.50 have five significant figures.

Activity 1

1. Give the number of significant figures in each of the following numbers:

(a) 4.02 _____________________________________________________

 WARANGOI SECONDARY SCHOOL GR 11 PHYSICS.. MR MAION 2020

(b) 0.008 _____________________________________________________

(c) 8600 _____________________________________________________

(d) 1049 _____________________________________________________

(e) 0.0002 _____________________________________________________

(f) 52.07 _____________________________________________________

(g) 0.60 _____________________________________________________

2. Given that the definition of area is Area= length x width, determine the basic or

fundamental unit form of the unit of the area.

Scientific notation

Scientific notation or standard index notation is a way of writing any number between 1 and
10 multiplied by an appropriate power of 10 notations. It is a shorthand method of writing
numbers that are very large or very small.

NOTE: In general if the number is greater than one, the sign of the index is positive. And if
the number is less than one, the sign of the index is negative.

Activity 2

1. Convert the following numbers into scientific notation:

(a) 27 000 000 = __________________________________________

(b) 0.000 007 12 = __________________________________________

(c) 821 = __________________________________________

(d) 0.000 101 = __________________________________________

(e) 81 250 000 000 = __________________________________________

(f) 0.000 000 002 05 = __________________________________________

2. Change the following numbers into normal notation:

(a) 5.80 x 10^6

 WARANGOI SECONDARY SCHOOL GR 11 PHYSICS.. MR MAION 2020

(b) 6.32 x 10^-5

(c) 8.56 x 10^4

(d) 2.52 x 10^-3

(e) 6.10 x 10^-11

3. Write the standard form.

(a) Speed of light in a vacuum = 298 000 000km/s _______________________

(b) One light year = 10 000 000 000 000km _______________________

Vector and Scalar Quantities

Physical quantities such as length, volume, mass, density, temperature and time can be
expressed in terms of magnitude or size alone (together with a unit).
 WARANGOI SECONDARY SCHOOL GR 11 PHYSICS.. MR MAION 2020

For example, consider a person with a mass of 60kg. The ‘60kg’ tell you everything there
is to say about the person’s mass. Quantities like these require a magnitude or size as its
specification is called scalar quantities.

Quantities such as force, velocity, acceleration, momentum and pressure are vector
quantities and are expressed in terms of both magnitude and direction.

 A scalar is a quantity that has only magnitude (size)

 A vector is a quantity that has both magnitude and direction

Representation of vectors:

 vectors are represented by drawing arrows. The length represents magnitude and
arrowhead indicates direction.
 Vectors are added geometrically by placing the tail of one vector on the head of
another. The resultant is the vector that begins at the tail of the first vector and ends
at the arrow head of the final vector.
 vectors can be subtracted by adding the negative vector.
 WARANGOI SECONDARY SCHOOL GR 11 PHYSICS.. MR MAION 2020

Dimensional Analysis

Every physical quantity can be expressed in terms of its basic dimensions of mass, weight,
volume, length and time.

The dimensions of quantity can be used to check an equation or formula for correctness or
to suggest the form an equation may take.

Dimensions of a quantity are placed in square brackets [ ] for example [M] for mass, [L] for
length, [T] for time and [I] for electric current.
 WARANGOI SECONDARY SCHOOL GR 11 PHYSICS.. MR MAION 2020

Every physical quantity can be expressed in terms of its basic dimensions. Dimensions of a
quantity is placed in square brackets [ ] where the square brackets is read as dimensions of.

Example 1

Express the quantities area and density in terms of their dimensions.

Activity 3

1. A yacht is sailing south at 4m/s and meets a current of 3m/s east.

What is the resultant velocity of the yacht?

2. Two water skiers are being pulled along by a speedboat such that their two ropes are at
90° to one another.

Calculate the resultant pull of the skiers on the boat if each pulls with a force of 500N.

3. Using dimensional symbols prove that the following equations are correct.
 WARANGOI SECONDARY SCHOOL GR 11 PHYSICS.. MR MAION 2020

Error Analysis

In physics, error does not mean mistake. It means uncertainty in physical measurements.
Thus, error analysis is the study of uncertainty in physical measurements. If you were to
count the number of desks in your classroom, you would obtain an exact value. But if you
were to measure the length of your room using a tape measure, your measurement would
be an approximation.

Types of errors in measurement

Systematic errors are errors caused due to the error in the instrument, and usually can be
corrected by simple calculation of improved experiment technique.

These effects result from:

• an incorrectly adjusted measuring instrument (such as stopwatch that runs too fast and so
give greater time)

• use of an instrument that has a zero error. That is, it does not read zero for zero
measurements (such as an ammeter used to measure current) the needle may point to 0.1,
even when not connected in a circuit. Other examples of systematic error are the following:

(1) a metre ruler with worn ends,

(2) a dial instrument with a needle that is not properly zeroed, and

(3) human reaction time that is always either too late or too early.

Random (irregular or accidental error) are errors of observation which measurement is just
as likely to be larger or smaller than the true or accepted value. Random error occurs when
the same quantity is measured several times and is estimated to the nearest division on a
measuring instrument and or measuring instrument not being particularly sensitive.

A common source of error in reading scales is parallax error (human error) as shown in the
diagram below. The apparent shift of the object’s position when the observer’s position
changes. It occurs when the line through the pointer to the scale does not make a right
angle. with the scale. To overcome parallax error when reading instruments, you should
view the dial and needle perpendicularly.
 WARANGOI SECONDARY SCHOOL GR 11 PHYSICS.. MR MAION 2020

How would you minimize errors?

Errors cannot be eliminated, but can only be minimize. This can be done by:

- estimating error

- choosing an appropriate measuring instrument for that particular tasks

- carrying out the procedure carefully step by step and checking result regularly

Relative error is when you measure the length or the mass of an object. You are in fact
taking two readings from your instrument. You measure a start position and a finish position
in each measurement; you have an absolute error equal to the limit of reading of the
instrument or the smallest graduation on the instrument’s scale. You may state your
uncertainties or error as a relative or fractional error (Percentage error)

Absolute error

Absolute error is an error in quantity. Consider an object’s length measured by using a

ruler to be 2.83 ±0.5mm. This measurement has an absolute error of ±0.5. If you are going to
calculate for percentage error for this you will have 0.5/2.83 x 100 = 17.7. So the
measurement 2.83 ±0.5 can also be written as 2.83 ±17.7%.

To calculate for absolute error use the following formula:

Absolute error = measured value – accepted value

Ea = (O – A)

If the value is measured several times, then the mean can be calculated and an estimate of
the accuracy can be given. For example, a result of 83.2 ± 0.4 mm would indicate that your
estimated value is 83.2mm but it could be between 82.8mm and 83.6mm. The absolute
error is estimated at 0.4mm.

A digital ammeter with a display of 456mA seems to be saying that the current is exactly
456mA. The accuracy or absolute uncertainty of the meter is ±1mA. Thus, the reading should
be expressed as (456 ± 1) mA.

For this reading, 1mA is the absolute error 456 is the estimated value. Note that the
absolute error has units but the fractional and percentage uncertainties are ratios.
 WARANGOI SECONDARY SCHOOL GR 11 PHYSICS.. MR MAION 2020

Or as a
percentage
error:

Working with errors

(i) Adding and subtracting numbers with errors

When you add or subtract two measurements with errors, you just add the errors. You add
the errors regardless of whether the numbers are being added or subtracted. You final
answer should have as many decimal places as the data with least number of decimal places.
Answer should have as many significant figures.
 WARANGOI SECONDARY SCHOOL GR 11 PHYSICS.. MR MAION 2020

Example

(20.4 ± 0.5mm) + (32.3 ± 0.5mm)

(0.5mm + 0.5mm) = ± 1.0mm

= 52.7 ± 1.0mm

(ii) For multiplication and division;

When multiplying or dividing, the answer should have as many significant figures as the least
significant measurement supplied in the data. The absolute errors should convert to
percentage errors. The result is combined. The final step involves converting the percentage
error back to an absolute error. Rounding off the absolute error should be done so that the
least significant digit in the error would affect the least significant digit.