Chapter 1

Introduction to Engineering
Calculation
Consistency of units
Most values consist of a number and a unit.
to solve a problem effectively, all the types of units should be consistent with
each other, or should be in the same system.

Units and Dimensions

Dimension : a property that can be measured
Eg.
Length (L)
Time (t)
Mass (M)
Temperature (T)
Electric Current (E)

Unit : an expression to a measured quantity

Eg. Meter,kilogram, second, celcius
Units of Common Physical Properties

System of Units
Base units :
standard unit for mass, length, time, temperature, electrical current and light intensity

Multiple Units :
Multiple or fractions of based units (eg. Minutes, hour and miliseconds)

Derived Units :
Unit derived from dividing multiple units or compound units (eg. Force, pressure)
Dimensions of common properties
 System of Units

SI (kg-m-s) System British, Imperial or American

(gravitational) system
most commonly-used system of
units in the world, and is based This system was established
heavily on units of 10 with the authority of the British
cgs (cm-g-s) system Empire.
Known in Britain as the
the first metric system
Imperial system, in America as
(before 1960)
the British (sometimes
English) system.
Used in USA.
 SI (kg-m-s) System
Base units

Each of these base units can be made smaller or larger in

units of ten by adding the appropriate metric prefixes

Derived Units
British, Imperial or American
(gravitational) system

the number of degrees Fahrenheit above absolute

zero is the Rankine scale.
Energy – BTU (British Thermal Units)
Power – Hp (Horse power)
 How to convert between units

Finding equivalences
use a conversion table to find the equivalence between the units you want
and the units you have.

Eg.
1 atm = 760 mmHg = 1.013 * 105 Pa = 1.013 bar = ....

Using the equivalences

Once the equivalences are determined, use the general form:

The fraction on the right

comes directly from the
conversion tables
Example :
Convert 800 mmHg into bars.

Solution :

800 mm Hg 1.01325 bars

P, bars = = 1.06657 bars

760 mm Hg
 Force and Weight

Forces
Force ( F )  ma
where;
m  mass, a  accelaration
Unit : kg.m/s2 (SI); g.cm/s2 (cgs); lbm.ft/s2 (American engineering)

In metric system, derived force units are simplified by using the following units
i) Newton (SI)
ii) Dyne (cgs)
 Weight
Weight of an object is the force exerted on the object by gravitational attraction.

w  mg

The value of g at sea level and 45 o latitude in each system of units:

g = 9.8066 m/s2
= 980.66 cm/s2
= 32.174 ft/s2
 Significant Figures
to estimate uncertainty in the final result, and this is where significant
figures become very important.

Precision and Accuracy

Precision refers to the reproducibility of results

and measurements in an experiment,

Accuracy refers to how close the value is to

the actual or true value.
 Counting Significant Figures
Three preliminary rules to counting significant
Non-zero numbers - all non-zero numbers are considered significant figures

Zeros - there are three different types of zeros

leading zeros - zeros that precede digits - do not count as significant figures
(example: .0002 has one significant figure)
captive zeros - zeros that are "caught" between two digits - do count as
significant figures
(example: 101.205 has six significant figures)
trailing zeros - zeros that are at the end of a string of numbers and zeros - only
count if there is a decimal place
(example: 100 has one significant figure, while 1.0 has two as
well as 100.)

Exact numbers - these numbers are not obtained by measurements, but are
determined by counting.
Example :

How many significant figures do the following numbers have? Assume

none of them are exact numbers.

a) 4.2362
b) 2.0
c) 9900
d) 0.44205
e) 0.05
f) 3.9400E9
Answers :

a) 4.2362 - all numbers, so five

b) 2.0 - zeros after a decimal point count, so two
c) 9900 - only two in this case, because there is no
decimal point
d) .44205 - there is a "captive zero," which means it
counts, so five
e) .05 - only the five counts, so one
f) 3.9400E9 - tricky one, but scientific notation
helps make the zeros at the end noticeable;
there are five
 Mathematical Operations and Significant Figures

addition and subtraction

the result has the same number of decimal places as the

least precise measurement use in the calculation.

112.420020 + 5.2105231 + 1.4 = 119.0

multiplication and division

the result has the same number of the least precise

measurement, or the number of digits

5.0000/2.5 = 2.0
 Rounding

If the number is greater than five (6 to 9), one rounds up - 1.36 becomes 1.4
If the number is less than five (1 to 4), one rounds down - 1.34 becomes 1.3

unbiased rounding.

If the number before the five is even, then one rounds down - 1.45 becomes 1.4
If the number before the five is odd, then one rounds up - 1.55 becomes 1.6