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LECTURE 1
Presenter: Dianne Plummer
Revised: 10/06/16
OBJECTIVES
• What are units
• System of Units
• Base Units
• Derived Units
• Consistency of Units
• Units of Common Physical Properties
• What are dimensions
What are units?
• Units are means of expressing the dimensions
such as feet or meter for length,
hours/seconds for time.
Think about it
Components of a system of units
• Base units - units for the dimensions of mass,
length, time, temperature, electrical current, and
light intensity.
• Derived units - units that are obtained in one or
two ways;
1. By multiplying and dividing base units. Example:
ft/min (velocity), cm2(area), kg.m/s2 (force).
2. Are defined as equivalent of compound units
(kg.m/s2 →J, Joule)
System of Units
• SI - INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF UNITS
• CGS (cm-gram-second)
• American Engineering System AES
• Check out
http://www.periodni.com/international_syste
m_of_units.html
SI Units
CGS Units
AES Units
Zooming in on SI Units
Mass…kilogram…kg
Time…seconds…s
Length…meter…m
Electric current…ampere…A
Temperature…kelvin…K
Amount of substance…mole…n
Luminous intensity…candela…cd
Class Activity 1
Notes on Base & Derived Units
Class Activity 2
Operations of Units
Class Activity 3
Multiplication of Units
Class Activity 4
Division of Units
Class Activity 5
Sub Multiple Unit
• Base units can be split into smaller units called
submultiple units.
• The millimetre is an example of a submultiple
unit and it is a smaller quantity than the
metre.
• A submultiple unit is a smaller quantity unit
than a base unit.
Multiple Units
• Sometimes the base unit can be too small. For
example, large distances are often measured
in kilometres instead of metres.
• The kilometre is a larger quantity than the
metre.
• A multiple unit is a larger quantity than the
base unit.
Prefixes for multiple and submultiple
Unit Conversion
• Conversion is an operation of changing
submultiple or multiple units into SI base
units.
• The Conversion Factor is the figure, which
relates the multiple, or submultiple unit to the
SI unit.
Rule 1 for Conversion
• Rules for conversion Rule 1 When converting a
multiple unit (larger quantity) into the SI base
unit (smaller quantity), multiply the multiple
unit by the conversion factor.
Example
Rule 2 for Conversion
• When converting a submultiple unit (smaller
quantity) into the SI base unit (larger quantity)
divide the submultiple unit by the conversion
factor.
Example
Basic Conversions
Activity 6
Area Conversions
Activity 7
Volume Conversions
Class Activity 8
Mass Conversions
Class Activity 9
Time Conversions
Class Activity 10
Temperature Conversions
Class Activity 11
Conversion between different System
of Units
Solution
Force
Weight
The Value of g
Classwork
Classwork
Dimensions
• What are Dimensions?
a
p 2 V b RT
V
Dimensionally Homogenous
• All additive terms on both sides of equation
must have same dimensions.
EXAMPLE
EXAMPLE
Dimensionless Quantity
a
p 2 V b RT
V
Non SI Units
Classwork
Solution
Solution
Solution
Standard form
• Frequent calculations using very large or very small numbers
• Can be cumbersome to write out in decimal form
• Multiplication of numbers with powers of ten is done by adding
the exponents.
• With scientific notation the exponents of to are used to indicate
the decimal place
Significant Figures
• The need to determine which figures are
significant (considered reliable)
• Number of significant figures indicate the
number of digits that can be used with
confidence.
• Example reporting too many figures indicates
that the number is more accurate than it
really is.
Significant Figures
• CASE STUDY
• Example: Add the following numbers:
3.51, 2.205 and 0.0142.