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Measurements

Q. Define unit, give requirements of good units.

The reference standard used for the measurement of a physical quantity is called a unit.
A good unit should have the following properties:
i) It should be easily available.
ii) It should be invariable (should not change in space and time).
iii) It should be universally accepted.
iv) It should be reproducible and not perishable.
Q.Explain the terms fundamental units and derived units.
Fundamental quantities: the physical quantities which do not depend on any other physical
quantities for their measurements are known as fundamental quantities.
Fundamental units: The units used to measure fundamental quantities are called
fundamental units.
Derived quantities and derived units:
Physical quantities other than fundamental quantities which depend on one or more
fundamental quantities for their measurements are called derived quantities, e.g. force, speed
etc. the unit of derived quantities are called derived units.
e. g. newton, kg/m3, etc. the table shows a list of derived quantities with their units and
symbols along with dimensions.

SI System: SI system is international system of units. It consists of seven fundamental units,

two supplementary units and large number of derived units.

Fundamental quantities with S. I. units and symbols

Fundamental quantities S. I. Units Symbol
1. Length metre m
2. Mass kilogram kg
3. Time second s
4. Temperature Kelvin K
5. Electric current Ampere A
6. Luminous intensity candela cd
7. Amount of substance mole mol

Supplementary units
1. Plane angle radian rad
2. Solid angle steradian sr

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Some conventions to be followed while writing S.I. units are given below.
i) Full name of unit always start with small letter even if named after a person. e.g.
newton, joule and not Newton, Joule.
ii) Symbol for unit named after a person should be in capital letters e.g. ‘N’ for newton,
‘J’ for joule, ‘A’ for ampere etc.
iii) Symbols for all other units are written in small letters e.g. ‘m’ for meter, ‘s’ for
second etc.
iv) Symbols of units are not be expressed in plural form e. g. 25m and not 25 ms
v) Full stop and any other punctuation mark should not be written after the symbols e.g.
kg and not kg. or N and not N.

Define dimensions
The dimensions of a physical quantity are the powers to which fundamental units must be
raised in order to obtain the unit of that physical quantity.

For determining the dimensions of a physical quantity, the units of the fundamental quantities
are represented by ‘L’ for length, ‘M’ for mass, ‘T’ for time, ‘K’ for temperature,’ I’ for
current, ‘C’ for luminous intensity and ‘mol ‘ for amount of substance.
An expression, which gives the relation between the derived units and fundamental units in
the term of dimensions, is called a dimensional equation.
Obtain dimensions of following quantities.

1. Mass = L0 M1 T0 = M1

2. Length = L1 M0 T0 = L1

3. Time = L0 M0 T1 = T1

4. Electric Current = L0 M0 T0 I1 = I1

5. Temperature = L0 M0 T0 K1 = K1

Note that Mechanics deals with only three fundamental quantities length, mass and
time. Hence, dimensions of quantities in mechanics consist of only length, mass and
time.

6. Displacement = L1 M0 T0

7. speed
distance
speed
time
distance L1 M 0 T 0
speed 1
L1 M 0 T 1

time T

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8. Velocity

Displacement L1 M 0 T 0
velocity 1
L1 M 0 T 1

time T

9.
Acceleration

n Change in velocity L1 M 0 T 1

Acc 1
L1 M 0 T 2

time T

10. Force

Force mass accn L0 M1 T0 L1 M0 T 2

L1 M1 T 2

11. Work

Work force displacement L1 M1 T 2

L1 M0 T0 L2 M1 T 2

12. Power

work L2 M1 T 2

Power 1
L2 M1 T 3

time T

13. Pressure

force L1 M1 T 2

Pressure L 1 M1 T 2

area L2

14. Impulse

Im pulse Force time L1 M1 T 2

L0 M0 T1 L1 M1 T 1

15. Electric Charge

charge = current × time = L0 M0 T1 I1

16. Potential Difference

Work L2 M1 T 2
I0
P.D. = 0 0 1 1
L2 M1 T 3
I 1

Charge L M T I

17. Temperature gradient

temperature K1
Temperature gradiant 1
K1 L 1
distance L

. Dimensions of various physical quantities in mechanics are given in table below:

Sr.No. Derived Formula Dimensions S.I. unit Symbol

quantity
1. Area A L2 L2 M0 T0 Square meter m2

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2. Volume V L 3 3
L M T 0 0 Cubic meter m3

3. Density d M/ V L 3 M1 T0 kilogram per Kg/m3

cubic meter
4. Velocity v s/t L1 M0 T 1 meter per second m/s
(speed)
5. Acceleration a v/ t L1 M0 T 2 meter per second m/s2
square
6. Momentum P m/ v L1 M1 T 1 kilogram meter kg m/s
per second
7. Force F ma L1 M1 T 2 newton N

8. Impulse J Ft L1 M1 T 1 newton second Ns

9. Work W Fs L2 M1 T 2 joule J

10. Kinetic Energy 1 L2 M1 T 2 joule J

K.E. mv2
2
11. Potential P.E. mgh L2 M1 T 2 joule J
Energy
12. Power w L2 M1 T 3 joule per second J/s or W
P
t or watt
13. Pressure F L 1 M1 T 2 newton per N/m2
P
A square meter

Uses of Dimensional Analysis :

1) To find the correctness of physical equation.
The dimensions of all the terms on two sides of a physical equation must be same. This is called
the principle of homogeneity of dimensions.
1 2
e.g. consider the equation S ut at
2
By writing the dimensions, we get

S L1M0T0 , ut L1M0T0 , at 2 L1M0T0

1
The number has no dimensions. Thus the equation is dimensionally correct.
2
2) To find conversion factor between the units of the same physical quantity in two different
systems of units.
e.g. to find the conversion factor between the units of the Force. i.e. newton in S.I. system
to dyne in c.g.s. system.
Let 1 newton = dyne……………….(1.1)

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1 1 2
The dimensions of force are L M T

Equation (1.1) in dimension form can be written as

L21M21T2 2
L21M21T2 2
=

L11M11T1 2

x
L 21M 21T2 2

1 1 2
L1 M1 T1
………….(1.2)
L2 M2 T2
Where suffix 1 indicates SI system and suffix 2 indicates C.G.S. system.
Writing units
1 1 2
m kg s
x
cm g s
1 1
cm2 g3 2
10 10 1
cm g

x 105 1 newton 105 dyne

3) To establish relationship between related physical quantities.

e. g. the period ‘T’ of oscillation of a simple pendulum depends on length ‘l’ and acceleration due to
gravity ‘g’. Let us derive the relation between T, l and g.
Let us assume that T Kl x g y …………………….(1)
K= constant which is dimensionless.

The dimensions of T L0 M0T1

The dimensions of l L1M0T0

And the dimensions of g L1M0T 2

Equation (1.3) can be dimensionally written as

x y
L0 M 0T1 K L1M 0T 0 L1M 0T 2

L0 M0T K Lx y M0T 2y
…………………(2)

By comparing the powers of L, M, T on both sides of equation, we get

1 1
0 = x+y and 1= -2y y andx
2 2
Substituting these values of x and y in equation (1) we get

l
T K l1/ 2g 1/ 2
i.e.T K
g

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The value of ‘K’, which is numerical constant, cannot be found by using dimensional
analysis and can be found out experimentally.
Order of magnitude and significant figures:
Order of magnitude of a physical quantity is defined as the value of its magnitude rounded off
to the nearest integral power of 10.
The magnitude of any physical quantity can be expressed as A 10n where ‘A’ is a number
such that 0.5 A 5 and ‘n’ is an integer, called order of magnitude.
eg..

i) radius of earth = 6400 km = 0.64 107

Order of magnitude of radius of earth is 107

19
ii) magnitude of the charge of electron 1.6 10 C
19
Order of magnitude of charge of electron = 10

iii) Length of a rod is 5 m = 0.5 101 m.

Order of magnitude of length of rod = 101 m.

Significant figures: it can be defined as a figure, which is of some significance, but it does not
necessarily denote a certainty.
Rules for determining significant figures:
i) Retain only one uncertain digit in the measurement of a physical quantity.
ii) When the value of the measurement should be rounded of to be given number of significant
figures, then the figures to be dropped is (1) less than 5, then the last significant figure is
unchanged (2) 5 or greater than 5, the last significant figure is increased by one.
iii) The zeros on the right hand side of the number are significant because they indicate the accuracy
of the instrument used for measurement.
iv) The zeros on the left hand side of the number are significant e.g. the number of 0.0753 has only
three significant figures.
v) If the number of digits more than the number of significant figures, the number should be
expressed in the power of 10 e.g. the mass of the earth is written as 5.98 1024 kg, as it is known
only up to three significant figures.
Rounding Off

1) 17.368 expressed as 17.37 correct to 4 significant digits. In the given number, the 5th digit is
greater than 5. When we delete the fifth digit, we add 1 to the 4th digit.
2) 17.361 expressed as 17.36 correct to 4 significant digits. The number beyond the 4th digit is
less than 5. We omit it.
When number to be omitted is five then
3) 17.3652 is expressed as 17.37 correct to 4 significant digits, Rule: as 5th digit is 5 and there is
non zero number after it hence add 1 to 4th digit.

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4) 17.335 expressed as 17.34 Rule: as 5th digit is 5 and digit preceding 5 is odd hence 1 is added
to 4th digit
5) 17.345 expressed as 17.34 Rule: if the digit preceding 5 is even, We omit it.

Types of Errors:
1) Instrumental (or constant ) error :
These errors are caused due to faulty construction of instruments.
e.g. if a thermometer is not graduated properly i. e. one degree on the thermometer actually
corresponds to 0.990 the temperature measured by such a thermometer will differ from its
value by a constant amount. Hence, it is also called as constant error.
Such errors can be minimized by taking the same measurement with different accurate
instruments.
2) Systematic error (Persistent errors) :
This is an error due to defective setting of an instrument.
If the pointer of an ammeter is not pivoted exactly at the zero of the scale, it will not point to
zero when no current is passing through it.
Such errors can be minimized by detecting its causes.
3) Personal errors:
These errors are introduced due to fault of an observer taking readings, referred to as
human errors.
They vary from person to person.
e.g. error due to non-removal of parallax between pointer and its image in case of a
magnetic compass needle .
4) Random error (Accidental): Even after minimizing above types of errors, errors may occur due
to different factors like change in temperature, pressure or fluctuation in voltage while the
experiment is being performed. Such errors cannot be eliminated but can be minimized.
The effect of errors can be minimized by :
1) Taking a large magnitude of the quantity to be measured.
2) Taking large number of readings and calculating their mean value.
3) Using an instrument whose least count is as small as possible.

Measurement of errors
Error: The difference between the true value and measured value of a physical quantity is
called error, which may be positive or negative. The true value of a physical quantity can
never be known. When we take sufficient large number of readings and find their mean, the
mean is referred to as the mean value.
Mean Value Suppose that ‘n’ readings taken for the measurement of a physical quantity are
a1 a 2 ...........a n
a1 , a 2 ,...........a n then the mean value is a mean
n

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n
1
am ai
n i 1

Absolute error : The magnitude of the difference between mean value and each individual
value is called absolute error.

Thus for measurement ‘ a 1 ’ the absolute error is a1 a m a1

Similarly in the measurement ‘ a 2 ’ it is a2 a m a 2 and so on.

Mean absolute error: The arithmetic mean of all the absolute errors is called mean absolute
error in the measurement of the physical quantity.
n
a1 a2 ........ a n 1
am am ai
n n i 1

Relative error: The ratio of the mean absolute error in the measurement of a physical
quantity to its mean value is called relative error.

am
Re lative error
am
Percentage error: The relative error multiplied by 100 is called the percentage error.
am
Percentage error 100%
am
Errors in compound physical quantities
a) error in x y absolute error in x absolute error in y

= x y

x
b) % error in xy or % error in x % error in y
y
x y
100 100
x y

c) % error in x n n % error in x

x
n 100
x
d) % error in x n y m n % error in x m % error in y

x y
n 100 m 100
x y

Solved Problems
1) Find dimensions of gravitational constant (G) and Permittivity of vacuum ( 0 )

Ans :

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(a) According to Newton’s law of gravitation , force of attraction between two masses is
given by , ( from 12th std syllabus)
m1m 2
F G
r2
F r2
G
m1 m 2
M1 L1 T 2
L2
G
M1 M1

G M 1 L3 T 2

(b) According to coulomb’s law of electrostatics ( to be learned in cha 10) force of attraction
or repulsion between two charges is given by
1 q1q 2
F
4 0 r2
1 q1q 2
0
4 F r2
q1 q 2
0
F r2

I1T1 I1T1
0
L1 M1 T 2
L2

0 L3 M 1
T 4 I2

2) Force acting on charge q moving with velocity v in magnetic field ‘B’ is given by F = qvB
, find dimensions of magnetic field.
F = qvB
F
B
qv

L1 M1 T 2

B
I1 T1 L1 T 1

B L0 M1 T 2
I 1

3) Show that 1J = 107 erg

Let 1J x erg

The dimensions of work are L2 M1 T 2

Equation in dimension form can be written as

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2 1 2 2 1 2
L2 M T 2 2 = L2 M T 2 2

2 1 2
L12 M11T1 2
L1 M1 T1
x ………….(1.2)
L 2 2 M 21T2 2
L2 M2 T2

Where suffix 1 indicates SI system and suffix 2 indicates C.G.S. system.

Writing units
2 1 2
m kg s
x
cm g s
2 1
102 cm 103 g 2
1
cm g
104 103
107
x 107
1 J 107 erg
4) If length ‘L’ , Force ‘F’ and time ‘T’ are taken as fundamental quantities , what will be
dimensional equation of mass and density?
Ans
As force, Length and time are fundamental quantities

force F1 L0 T0 ; length F0 L1 T0 ; time F0 L0 T1

Dimensions of mass:
Force mass acc n
force
mass
acc n
force
mass
acc n
F1
mass
L1 T 2

mass F1 L 1 T 2

Dimensions of density:
mass
density
volume
F1 L 1 T 2
density
L3
density F1 L 4 T 2

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5) If hydrostatic pressure ‘P’ of a liquid column depends upon the density ‘d’, height ‘h’ of
liquid column and acceleration ‘g’ due to gravity , derive formula for pressure using
dimensional analysis
Ans : Dimensions of terms involved

pressure L 1 M1 T 2

density L 3 M1 T0

height L1 M0 T0

gravitational acc L1 M0 T 2

Let
P k h x d y g z ………………………..(1)
Where k is dimensionless constant
Writing dimensions
x y z
P h d g
x y z
L 1 M1 T 2
L1 L 3M1 L1 T 2

L 1 M1 T 2
Lx L 3y My Lz T 2z

L 1 M1 T 2
Lx 3y z
My T 2z

Equating powers on both sides

y =1 ;
2z 2
z 1
x 3y z 1
x 3(1) 1 1
x 2 1
x 1
Putting values of x,y,z in equation 1
P khdg
Value of k has to be determined expermntly.
(We will learn in cha 5 that k =1 hence P =h d g)

6) If displacement of particle is given by s = at +bv2 where t is time and v is velocity find

dimensions of a and b.
According to law of homogeneity of dimensions, each term should have same
dimensions,

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1
s L
s at a a 1
a L1T 1

t T

Also

s L1 L1
s bv2 b b b b L 1T 2
v 2 1 1 2 2
LT 2
LT

7) An object was weighted by physical balance and following readings were obtained: 5.04
g , 5.06 g , 4.97 g , 5.00 g, 5.06 g. find (a) Mean Value (b) Absolute error (c) % error
a1 a 2 a 3 a 4 a 5 5.04 5.06 4.97 5.00 4.93
Mean value =
5 5
= 5.00 g
Absolute error in each reading
a1 a m a1 0.04g
a2 am a2 0.06g
a3 am a3 0.03g
a4 am a4 0.00g
a5 am a5 0.07g
Mean absolute error
a1 a2 a3 a4 a5
am
5
0.04 0.06 0.03 0.00 0.07
am
5
0.20
am
5
am 0.04 g
% error
am
100
am
0.04
100
5.00
= 0.8 %
8) The diameter of a wire measured with a vernier calipers with least count of 0.1 mm is
3.12 cm. Find the percentage error in the measurement.
Solution :
0.01
The relative error in the measurement
3.12
0.01
Hence, the percentage error is given by 100 032%
3.12

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9) Find the percentage error in the volume V of a block of length 10 cm, breadth 20 cm and
height 25 cm if the measurement is carried out with a meter scale.
Solution:
The least count of a meter scale is 1 mm. Hence absolute error in length, breadth and height

is l = b = h =1mm=0.1cm
As V l b h
% error in volume % error in l + % error in b % error in h

V l b h
100 100 100 100
V l b h
0.1 0.1 0.1
100 100 100 1.9%
10 20 25
V
Percentage error 100 1.9%
V
10) In an experiment to find the density of a solid, the mass and volume of the solid were
found to be 400.3 0.02 g and 75.6 0.01 cm 3 respectively. Find the relative error and

percentage error in the determination of its density.

Solution:
From the given values,
M 0.02 V 0.01
0.00005 and 0.00013
M 400.3 V 75.6
M
Relation between mass, volume and density is
V
Relative error in density = relative error in mass + relative error in volume
M V
Neglecting sign
M V

0.00005 0.00013 0.00018

Hence the percentage error in the determination of the density of the solid is

100% 0.00018 100 % 0.018%

Problems for practice.

1) Deduce the dimensional formula for the following quantities from their definitions :
a. Momentum
b. Moment of force
c. Work
1
d. Power Ans : a. MLT b.ML2T 2
c. ML2T 2
d. ML2T 3

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2) Density of water is one g per cc in the C.G.S. units. Express it in S. I. units. (1000
kg/m3)
3) The distance s covered by a body in time t is given by the relation s a bt ct 2 . What are
the dimensions of a, b and c? [L]; [LT 1 ]; [LT 2 ]

4) Assuming that the period T of oscillation of a simple pendulum depends upon its length l and

l
acceleration due to gravity g at the place, show that T
g
5) The frequency n of vibration of a string of length l under tension F depends upon l , F and m

1 F
where m is the mass per unit length of string. Show that n
l m
6) In the following set of numbers, write down the number of significant digits.
a) 0.043 b) 4.03 108 c) 0.0730 d) 6.00 e) 3.720 kg
Ans : [ a) 2, b) 3, c) 3, d) 3, e) 4. ]
7) Round off the following numbers to three significant digits.
a) 0.02739 km b) 7.075 109 s

Ans : 0.0274km; 7.08 109 s

8) Round of the following numbers as indicated.

a) 16.315 to 4 digits
b) 7.998 105 to3 digits
c) 0.6975 to 3 digits.
3
d) 7.5936 10 to 4 digits
e) 15.85 to 3 digits
f) 123456 to 5 digits
Ans : [ a) 16.32 b) 7.00 105 c) 0.698 d) 7.594 10 3
e) 15.8 f) 1.2346 105 ]

9) Write down the following results to the correct number of significant digits.
a. 0.0173 0.000070
b. 6.53 16.1384 Ans : a) 0.0173 c) 22.668

10) Write the results of the following operations to the correct number of significant digits.

a) 3.1 12.126 Ans : a) 38

11) Calculate : a) 89.54 2.54 b) 16.48 0.412 Ans : a) 35.2 b) 40.0

12) The radius of the earth is 6400 km and its mass is 5.98 1024 kg . What is the density of the

earth? Ans : 5.4 106 kg / m3

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15 27
13) Considering the proton as a sphere of radius 1.35 10 m and of mass 1.67 10 kg ,

calculate the order of magnitude of its density. Ans : 1017 kg / m3

15
14) The radius R of a nucleus of mass number A is given by R 1.4 10 A1/ 3 . Find the order
14
of magnitude of the radius for a nucleus with A = 235. Ans : 10 m

15) Measurement of the length of a table with a meter scale gave the following readings: 1.32 m;
1.324 m; 1.317 m; 1.321 m and 1.319 m. Write the length of the table with the uncertainty in

the measurement. Ans : 1.320 0.002m

16) In an experiment to find the refractive index of the material of a prism, the following results
were obtained: 1) 1.53 2) 1.55 3) 1.54 4) 1.50 5) 1.53 6) 1.54 Calculate a) Average value of
b) mean error c) fractional error d) percentage error.
Ans : [ a) 1.53 b) 0.01 c) 0.0065 d) 0.65% ].
17) The percentage error in the measurement of the radius r of a sphere is 0.1%. What is the
percentage error introduced in the measurement of volume? Ans : (0.3%)
18) The following readings were obtained in an experiment to find the volume of a block with
rectangular faces. Lengths = 16.03 0.03 cm, breath = 12.06 0.02 cm and height = 3.72
0.01 cm. What is the error in volume expressed as a percentage? Ans : (0.62%)

19) In an experiment on Ohm’s law, V 50 2.3 volt and I 20 1.1 ampere. Assume
Ohm’s law V = IR and calculate the percentage error in R. Ans : ( 10.1%)

Some Interesting methods for measurements used in physics

Measurement of Length
Direct Methods : a meter scale is used for lengths from 10-3m to 102 m. Vernier caliper is
used to measure length to an accuracy of 10 4 m A screw gauge can be used to measure

lengths as small as 10 5 m .
Parallax method: Large distances such as the distance of a planet or a star from the earth
can be measured using parallax method.
To measure the distance D of a far away planet S by the parallax method, we observe it from
two different positions (observatories) A and B on the Earth, separated by distance AB = b at
the same time as shown in figure.

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We measure the angle between the two directions, along which the planet is viewed at these
two points. The ASB represented by symbol is called the parallax angle or parallactic
angle.
b
As the plant is very far away, 1 , and therefore, is very small. Then we approximately
D
take AB as an arc of length b of a circle with centre at S and the distance D as the radius,
AS = BS =D
b= D where is in radians.
b
D

A similar method to determine the size or angular diameter of the planet. If d is the diameter
of the planet and the angular size of the planet (the angle subtended by d at the earth), we
have d/D
The angle can be measured from the same location on the earth. It is the angle between the
two directions when two diametrically opposite points of the planet are viewed through the
telescope. Sine D is known, the diameter d of the planet can be determined using d/D

Measurement of Mass:
Mass is a fundamental property of matter. It does not depend on the temperature, pressure or
location of the object in space. The SI unit of mass is kilogram (kg).
But while dealing with atoms and molecules, the kilogram is an inconvenient unit. For atomic
levels unified atomic mass is used. 1 unified atomic mass unit lu 0.8333 10 1 of the
mass of an atom of carbon 12 in kg.
12 27
Mass of Isotope 6 C including the mass of electrons 1.66 10 kg

Mass of commonly available objects can be determined by a common balance like the one
used in a grocery shop.
Large masses in the universe like planets, stars, etc, are measured using Newton’s laws of
gravitation.
For measurement of small masses, we make use of mass spectrograph in which radius of the
trajectory is proportional to the mass of a charged particle moving in uniform electric and
magnetic field.
Measurement of Time:
The mean solar day on the earth is considered duration of 24 hours for which an hour is of
60 minutes and each minute is of 60 seconds. A solar day is the interval from one noon to
the next noon. Average of length of a solar day over a year is considered as a mean solar
day.
Atomic clock uses an atomic standard of time, which is based on the periodic vibrations
produced in a cesium atom.
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In the cesium atomic clock, the second is taken as the time needed for 9,192,631,770
vibrations of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine states
of cesium – 133 atom.
The cesium atomic clocks are very accurate. The national standard of time interval ‘second’
as well as the frequency is maintained through four cesium atomic clocks. A cesium atomic
clock is used at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) New Delhi to maintain the Indian
standard of time.

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