PHYS 291 Chapter 1

1. What is Physics?
2. What do we want from this class?
3. Brief history of physics
4. Chapter one
• Standards and units
• Estimates
• Uncertainties and Significant Figures
 Why do Physics?

{• To understand nature through experimental

Exp. observations and measurements (Research)

{
• Establish limited number of fundamental laws, usually
with mathematical expressions
Theory • Predict the nature’s course
⇒ Theory and Experiment work hand-in-hand
⇒ Theory works generally under restricted conditions
⇒ Discrepancies between experimental measurements
and theory are good for improvements
⇒ Improves our everyday lives, though some laws can
take a while till we see amongst us
What do we want from this class?
• Physics is everywhere around you.
• Understand the fundamental principles that
surrounds you in everyday lives…
• Identify what law of physics applies to what
phenomena…
• Understand the impact of such physical laws
• Learn how to research and analyze what you observe.
• Learn how to express observations and
measurements in mathematical language.
• Learn how to express your research in systematic
manner in writing
• I don’t want you to be scared of PHYSICS!!!
 Brief History of Physics
• AD 18th century:
– Newton’s Classical Mechanics: A theory of mechanics based on
observations and measurements
• AD 19th Century:
– Electricity, Magnetism, and Thermodynamics
• Late AD 19th and early 20th century (Modern Physics Era)
– Einstein’s theory of relativity: Generalized theory of space, time, and
energy (mechanics)
– Quantum Mechanics: Theory of atomic phenomena
• Physics has come very far, very fast, and is still progressing, yet
we’ve got a long way to go
– What is matter made of?
– How do matters get mass?
– How and why do matters interact with each other?
– How is universe created?
 Needs for Standards and Units
• Basic quantities for physical measurements
– Length, Mass, and Time
• Need a language that everyone can understand each
other
– Consistency is crucial for physical measurements
– The same quantity measured by one must be comprehendible
and reproducible by others
– Practical matters contribute
• A system of unit called SI (System International)
established in 1960
– Length in meters (m)
– Mass in kilo-grams (kg)
– Time in seconds (s)
 Definition of Base Units
SI Units Definitions
1 m (Length) = 100 One meter is the length of the path traveled by light in
cm vacuum during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a
second.

1 kg (Mass) = It is equal to the mass of the international prototype of the

kilogram, made of platinum-iridium in International Bureau
1000 g of Weights and Measure in France.

1 s (Time) One second is the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of

the radiation corresponding to the transition between the
two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the Cesium 133
(C133) atom.

•There are prefixes that scales the units larger or smaller for convenience (see pg. 7)
•Units for other quantities, such as Kelvins for temperature, for easiness of use
 International Standard Institutes

• International Bureau of Weights and Measure

http://www.bipm.fr/
– Base unit definitions:
http://www.bipm.fr/enus/3_SI/base_units.html
– Unit Conversions: http://www.bipm.fr/enus/3_SI/
• US National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST) http://www.nist.gov/
 Examples

• Ex 1: A silicon chip has an 1.25 in 2 =

area of 1.25in2. Express this
in cm2.

• Ex 2: Where the posted speed limit is 65 miles per hour (mi/h or mph), what
is this speed (a) in meters per second (m/s) and (b) kilometers per hour
(km/h)?
 12 in  2.54 cm  1 m 
1 mi = (5280 ft )    = 1609 m = 1.609 km
 1 ft  1 in  100cm 

(a) 65 mi/h =

(b) 65 mi/h =
 Estimates & Order-of-Magnitude
Calculations
• Estimate = Approximation
– Useful for rough calculations to determine the necessity of
higher precision
– Usually done under certain assumptions
– Might require modification of assumptions, if higher precision
is necessary
• Order of magnitude estimate: Estimates done to the
precision of 10s or exponents of 10s;
– Three orders of magnitude: 103=1,000
– Round up for Order of magnitude estimate; 8x107 ~ 108
– Similar terms: “Ball-park-figures”, “guesstimates”, etc
 Examples
Estimate radius of the Earth using triangulation as shown in the picture
when d=4.4km and h=1.5m.
Pythagorian theorem

d=4.4km

Solving for R
R
 Dimension and Dimensional Analysis
• An extremely useful concept in solving physical
problems
• Good to write physical laws in mathematical expressions
• No matter what units are used the base quantities are
the same
– Length (distance) is length whether meter or inch is used to
express the size: Usually denoted as [L]
– The same is true for Mass ([M])and Time ([T])
– One can say “Dimension of Length, Mass or Time”
– Dimensions are used as algebraic quantities: Can perform
algebraic operations, addition, subtraction, multiplication or
division
 Dimension and Dimensional Analysis
• One can use dimensions only to check the
validity of one’s expression: Dimensional
analysis
– Eg: Speed [v] = [L]/[T]=[L][T-1]
• Distance (L) traveled by a car running at the speed V in time T
• L = V*T = [L/T]*[T]=[L]
• More general expression of dimensional
analysis is using exponents: eg. [v]=[LnTm]
=[L]{T-1] where n = 1 and m = -1
 Examples
• Show that the expression [v] = [at] is dimensionally
correct
• Speed: [v] =L/T
• Acceleration: [a] =L/T2
• Thus, [at] = (L/T2)xT=LT(-2+1) =LT-1 =L/T= [v]
• Suppose the acceleration a of a circularly moving particle
with speed v and radius r is proportional to rn and vm. What
are n and am?
r v m
n L 
L1T − 2 = (L )   = Ln + mT − m
T 
a = kr n v m − m = −2  m= 2
Dimensionless Length
n + m = n + 2 = 1  n = −1
Speed
constant
2
v
a = kr −1v 2 =
r
 Uncertainties
• Physical measurements have limited
precision, however good it is, due to:
– Number of measurements
Stat.{
– Quality of instruments (meter stick vs micro-meter)

{
Syst. –
–

–
Experience of the person doing measurements
Etc
In many cases, uncertainties are more important and
difficult to estimate than the central (or mean) values
 Significant Figures

• Significant figures denote the precision of

the measured values
– Significant figures: non-zero numbers or zeros that
are not place-holders
• 34 has two significant digits, 34.2 has 3, 0.001 has one
because the 0’s before 1 are place holders, 34.100 has 5,
because the 0’s after 1 indicates that the numbers in these
digits are indeed 0’s.
• When there are many 0’s, use scientific notation:
– 31400000=3.14x107
– 0.00012=1.2x10-4
 Significant Figures

• Operational rules:
– Addition or subtraction: Keep the smallest number
of decimal place in the result, independent of the
number of significant digits: 34.001+120.1=154.1
– Multiplication or Division: Keep the smallest
significant figures in the result: 34.001x120.1 =
4083, because the smallest significant figures is 4.