Physical Quantity

• Physical Quantity: A quantity which can be

measured and expressed in form of laws is
called a physical quantity.
• Physical quantity (Q) = n × u , Where n
represents the numerical value and u
represents the unit.
• As the unit(u) changes, the magnitude (n) will
also change but product nu will remain same.
i.e. n u = constant, or n1u1 = n2u2 = constant;
 Fundamental and Derived Units
• Fundamental and Derived Units:
• Any unit of mass, length and time in
mechanics is called a fundamental, absolute
or base unit.
• Other units which can be expressed in terms
of fundamental units, are called derived units
 System of units
• System of units : A complete set of units, both
fundamental and derived for all kinds of
physical quantities is called system of units. (1)
CGS system, (2) MKS system, (3) FPS system.
(4) S.I. system : It is known as International
system of units.
• There are seven fundamental quantities in
this system. These quantities and their units
are given in the following table.
 SI UNITS
• Quantity Name of Units Symbol
• Length Metre m
• Mass Kilogram kg
• Time Second s
• Electric Current Ampere A
• Temperature Kelvin K
• Amount of Substance Mole Mol
• Luminous Intensity Candela Cd
• Besides the above seven fundamental units two
supplementary units are also defined - Radian (rad)
for plane angle and Steradian (sr) for solid angle
Dimensions of a Physical Quantity
• Dimensions of a Physical Quantity: When a
derived quantity is expressed in terms of
fundamental quantities, it is written as a
product of different powers of the
fundamental quantities.
• The powers to which fundamental quantities
must be raised in order to express the given
physical quantity are called its dimensions.
 Important Dimensions
• S.NO Quantity Dimension
1. Velocity or speed (v)
2. Acceleration
3. Distance
4. Force
5. Pressure
6. Stress
7. Strain
8. Angle
9. Gravitational constant
10. Acceleration due to gravity
 Application of Dimensional Analysis.
• (1) To find the unit of a physical quantity in a given
system of units.
• (2) To find dimensions of physical constant or
coefficients.
• (3) To convert a physical quantity from one
system to the other.
• (4) To check the dimensional correctness of a
given physical relation: This is based on the
‘principle of homogeneity’. According to this
principle the dimensions of each term on both
sides of an equation must be the same.
• (5) To derive new relations.
 Limitations of Dimensional Analysis
• (1) If dimensions are given, physical quantity may
not be unique.
• (2) Numerical constant having no dimensions
cannot be deduced by the methods of
dimensions.
• (3) The method of dimensions can not be used to
derive relations other than product of power
functions. For example, s = u t + (1/2) at2 or y = a
sin w t
• (4) The method of dimensions cannot be applied
to derive formula consist of more than 3 physical
quantities.
 Significant Figures
• Significant Figures in the measured value of a
physical quantity tell the number of digits in
which we have confidence.
• Larger the number of significant figures
obtained in a measurement, greater is the
accuracy of the measurement. The reverse is
also true.
 Significant Figures-RULES
• (1) All non-zero digits are significant.
• (2) A zero becomes significant figure if it
appears between two non-zero digits.
• (3) Leading zeros or the zeros placed to the
left of the number are never significant.
Example : 0.543 has three significant figures.
0.006 has one significant figures.
 Significant Figures-RULES
• (4) Trailing zeros or the zeros placed to the
right of the number are significant, if they
come after a decimal point. Example : 4.330
has four significant figures. 343.000 has six
significant figures.
• (5) In exponential notation, the numerical
portion gives the number of significant figures.
Example : 1.32 x102 has three signifi cant fi
gures.
 Rounding Off
• (1) If the digit to be dropped is less than 5, then
the preceding digit is left unchanged. Example : x
= 7.82 is rounded off to 7.8, again x = 3.94
rounded off to 3.9.
• (2) If the digit to be dropped is more than 5, then
the preceding digit is raised by one. Example : x =
6.87 is rounded off to 6.9, again x = 12.78 is
rounded off to 12.8.
• (3) If the digit to be dropped is 5 followed by
digits other than zero, then the preceding digit is
raised by one. Example : x = 16.351 is rounded off
to 16.4, again x = 6.758 is rounded off to 6.8
 Rounding Off
• (4) If digit to be dropped is 5 or 5 followed by
zeros, then preceding digit is left unchanged, if it
is even. Example : x = 3.250 becomes 3.2 on
rounding off, again x = 12.650 becomes 12.6 on
rounding off.
• (5) If digit to be dropped is 5 or 5 followed by
zeros, then the preceding digit is raised by one, if
it is odd. Example : x = 3.750 is rounded off to 3.8,
again x = 16.150 is rounded off to 16.2.
 Significant Figures in Calculation
• The following two rules should be followed to
obtain the proper number of significant figures in
any calculation.
• (1) The result of an addition or subtraction in the
number having different precisions should be
reported to the same number of decimal places as
are present in the number having the least
number of decimal places.
• (2) The answer to a multiplication or division is
rounded off to the same number of significant
figures as is possessed by the least precise term
used in the calculation
 ACCURACY AND PRECISION

• Accuracy of a measurement is how close the

measured value is to the true value.
• Precision is the resolution or closeness of a series of
measurements of a same quantity under similar
conditions.
• For example : If the true value of a certain length is
3.678 cm and two instruments with different
resolutions, up to 1 (less precise) and 2 (more precise)
decimal places respectively, are used. If first measures
the length as 3.5 and the second as 3.38 then the first
has more accuracy but less precision while the second
has less accuracy and more precision.
 Order of Magnitude
• Order of magnitude of quantity is the power of 10
required to represent the quantity.
• For determining this power, the value of the
quantity has to be rounded off. While rounding
off, we ignore the last digit which is less than 5. If
the last digit is 5 or more than five, the preceding
digit is increased by one. For example, (1) Speed
of light in vacuum = 3 X108 m/s
• = 108 m/s (ignoring 3 < 5)
• (2) Mass of electron = = 9.1X 10 -31 kg= 10-30 kg
(as 9.1 > 5).
 Errors of Measurement.
• Errors of Measurement. The measured value
of a quantity is always somewhat different
from its actual value, or true value.
• This difference in the true value of a quantity
is called error of measurement.
 Brief Account of ERRORS:
• GROSS ERRORS :This category basically takes into account
human oversight and other mistakes while reading,
recording and the readings. The most common of errors,
the human error in the measurement fall under this
category of errors in measurement.
• For example the person taking the reading from the meter
of the instrument he may read 23 as 28. Gross errors can be
avoided by using two suitable measures and they are
written below:
• A proper care should be taken in reading, recording the
data. Also, calculation of error should be done accurately.
• By increasing the number of experimenters we can reduce
the gross errors. If each experimenter takes different
reading at different points, then by taking average of more
readings we can reduce the gross errors
 Brief Account of ERRORS:
• Systematic Errors: Systematic errors can be better
understood if we divide it into subgroups;
– Instrumental Errors: These errors arise due to faulty
construction and calibration of the measuring
instruments. Such errors arise due to the hysteresis of
the equipment or due to friction.
– Lots of the time, the equipment being used is faulty
due to misuse or neglect which changes the reading of
the equipment. The zero error is a very common type
of error. This error is common in devices like vernier
calipers and screw gauge. The zero error can be either
positive or negative.
– Sometimes the readings of the scale are worn off and
this can also lead to a bad reading.
 Brief Account of ERRORS:
– SYSTEMATIC ERRORS
– Environmental Errors: This type of error arises in the
measurement due the effect of the external
conditions on the measurement. The external
condition includes temperature, pressure, and
humidity and can also include external magnetic field.
If you measure your temperature under the armpits
and during the measurement if the electricity goes out
and the room gets hot, it will affect your body
temperature thereby affecting the reading.
– Observational Errors: These are the errors that arise
due to an individual’s bias, lack of proper setting of
the apparatus or individual’s carelessness in taking
observations. The measurement errors also include
wrong readings due to Parallax errors.
 Brief Account of ERRORS:
• Random Error: The random errors are those
errors, which occur irregularly and hence are
random.
• These can arise due to random and unpredictable
fluctuations in experimental conditions (e.g.
unpredictable fluctuations in temperature,
voltage supply, mechanical vibrations of
experimental set-ups, etc, errors by the observer
taking readings, etc.
• For example, when the same person repeats the
same observation, it is very likely that he may get
different readings every time.
 Errors of Measurement.
• Absolute error—Absolute error in the measurement
of a physical quantity is the magnitude of the
difference between the true value and the measured
value of the quantity.
• Δa = am –a
• Let a physical quantity be measured n times. Let the
measured value be a1, a2, a3, . . . an. The arithmetic
mean of these value is Usually, am is taken as the
true value of the quantity, if the same is unknown
otherwise.
• The absolute errors may be positive in certain cases
and negative in certain other cases.
 Errors of Measurement.
• Mean absolute error—It is the arithmetic
mean of the magnitudes of absolute errors in
all the measurements of the quantity. It is
represented by Δ a.
• Hence the final result of measurement may
be written as ……..
This implies that any measurement of the
quantity is likely to lie between(am - Δ a ) and
(am + Δ a ).
 Errors of Measurement.
• Relative error or Fractional error—Relative
error or Fractional error is
• = mean absolute error/ mean value
• =Δa/ a
• Percentage error :
• = ( Δ a / a) x 100%
 Propagation of Errors
• Error in sum of the quantities :
• Suppose x = a + b
• Let Δa = absolute error in measurement of a
Δb = absolute error in measurement of b
• Δx = absolute error in calculation of x i.e. sum
of a and b.
• The maximum absolute error in x is
• Δx = (Δa + Δb)
 Propagation of Errors
• Error in difference of the
quantities—Suppose x = a – b
• The maximum absolute error in x is
• Δx = (Δa + Δb)
 Propagation of Errors
• Error in product of quantities—
• Suppose x = a × b
• The maximum fractional error in x is :
• Δx /x = Δ a/a + Δ b/ b
 Propagation of Errors
• Error in division of quantities—
• Suppose x = a/b
• The maximum fractional error in x is :
• Δx /x = Δ a/a + Δ b/ b
 Propagation of Errors
• Error in quantity raised to some
power—Suppose x = (a) m/ (b )n
• The maximum fractional error in x is :
• Δx /x = m (Δ a/a) + n (Δ b/ b)