CHINMAYA VIDYALAYA TRIPUNITHURA

STD-XI (PHYSICS NOTES)

CHAPTER 2 – UNITS AND MEASUREMENT
Physical Quantity
A quantity which is measurable is called ‘physical quantity’.

Fundamental Quantity
A physical quantity which is the base and cannot be derived from any other
quantity is called ‘fundamental quantity’.
Examples: Length, Mass, Time, etc.

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Derived Quantity

quantity / quantities is called ‘derived quantity’.

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A physical quantity which can be derived or expressed from base or fundamental

Examples: Speed, velocity, acceleration, force, momentum, energy, pressure,

density, resistance, etc.

Unit

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Measurement of any physical quantity involves comparison with a certain basic,

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arbitrarily chosen, internationally accepted reference standard called unit.

Fundamental Units

units.

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The units of the fundamental or base quantities are called fundamental or base

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Examples: metre, kilogram, second, etc.

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Derived Units
The units of the derived quantities which can be expressed from the base or

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fundamental quantities are called derived units.
Examples: m/s, kg m/s, kg m/s2, etc.

System of Units
A complete set of both fundamental and derived units is known as the system of
units.
Various System of Units
In earlier time, various systems like ‘fps’, ‘cgs’ and ‘mks’ system of units were
used for measurement. They were named so from the fundamental units in their
respective systems as given below:

Quantity Dimension System of units

fps cgs mks
Length
Mass
L
M
foot
pound
centi metre
gramme
metre

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kilogramme
a
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Time T second second second

Fundamental Units in SI system

Quantity Symbol SI unit T Symbol

Length

Mass
L

y ametre

kilogramme
m

kg

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Time T second s
Electric Current A ampere A

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Main units Thermodynamic K kelvin K
Temperature

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Light Intensity Cd candela cd

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Amount of mole mole mol
substance

Supplement
ary units
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Plane angle
Solid angle

Solid Angle and Plane Angle:

dθ
dΩ
radian
steradian
rad
sr

Other than the seven base units, two more units are defined.
1. Plane angle: It is defined as the ratio of length of arc (ds) to the radius, r.
The unit of plane angle is radian. Its symbol is rad.

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2. Solid Angle: It is defined as the ratio of the intercepted area (dA) of the

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spherical surface, to the square of its radius.

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The unit of solid angle is steradian. The symbol is Sr.
Measurement Of Length

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Two methods are used to measure length
• direct method
•

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indirect method.

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The metre scale, Vernier calliper, screw gauge, spherometer are used in direct
method for measurement of length ranging from 102 m to 10-5 m. Indirect method
is used if range of length is beyond the above ranges.
Measurement Of Large Distances
Parallax:
It is the apparent shift in the position of an object with respect to another when
we shift our eye sidewise
Parallax Method:
Parallax method is used to find distance of planet or star from earth. The distance
between two points of observation (observatories) is called base. The angle
between two directions of observation at the two points is called parallax angle or
parallactic angle (Ɵ).
Consider the planet ‘s’ is at a distance ‘D’ from the surface of earth. To measure
D, the planet is observed from two observatories A and B (on earth). The distance
between A and B is b and Ɵ be the parallax angle between direction of
observation from A and B.

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AB can be considered as an arc of length ‘b’ of a circle of radius D with its centre
at S. (as the planet is very far away, Ɵ is very small, b/D<<1), Thus from arc-radius
relation.

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Thus by measuring b and Ɵ distance to planet from earth can be determined.
Measurement of the size or angular diameter of an astronomical object

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The size of planet or angular diameter of planet can be measured using the value
of D. If the angle α (angle between two directions of observation of two
diametrically opposite points on planet) is measured using a telescope
Where d is diameter of the planet.
Units for short and large lengths
1 fermi = 1f = 10-15m

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1 Angstrom = 1A° = 10-10m
1 astronomical unit = 1AU = 1.496 × 1011m
1 light year = 1ly = 9.46 × 1015m
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1 par sec = 3.08 × 1016m = 3.262 light years

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(Distance that light travels with a velocity of 3 × 108 m/s in 1 year)

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(par sec is the distance at which average radius of earth’s orbit subtends an angle
of 1 arc second).

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MEASUREMENT OF MASS
The SI unit of mass is kilogram (kg).

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The prototypes of the International standard kilogram supplied by the
International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) are available in many other

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laboratories of different countries.
In India, this is available at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), New Delhi.
While dealing with atoms and molecules, the kilogram is an inconvenient unit. In
this case, there is an important standard unit of mass, called the unified atomic
mass unit (u), which has been established for expressing the mass of atoms as
1 unified atomic mass unit = 1 u
One unified mass unit is equal to (1/12) of the mass of an atom of Carbon-12
isotope ( 126𝐶 ) including the mass of electrons.
1 u = 1.66 × 10–27 kg
Mass of commonly available objects can be determined by a common balance.
Large masses in the universe can be measured by using gravitational method and
for measurement of very small masses of atomic particles, we make use of mass
spectrograph.

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Errors
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The result of every measurement by any measuring instrument contains some
uncertainty. This uncertainty is called error.

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Accuracy:

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The accuracy of a measurement is a measure of how close the measured value is

Precision:
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to the true value of the quantity.

Precision tells us to what resolution or limit the quantity is measured.

Example:
Suppose the true value of a certain length is near 2.874 cm.
In one experiment, using a measuring instrument of resolution 0.1 cm, the
measured value is found to be 2.7 cm, while in another experiment using a
measuring device of greater resolution, say 0.01 cm, the length is determined to
be 2.69 cm.
The first measurement has more accuracy (because it is closer to the true value)
but less precision (its resolution is only 0.1 cm), while the second measurement is
less accurate but more precise.
Classification of errors

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In general, the errors in measurement can be broadly classified as
(I) Systematic errors and (II) Random errors
I. Systematic errors

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The systematic errors are those errors that tend to be in one direction, either

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positive or negative. Some of the sources of systematic errors are:
(a) Instrumental errors:

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The instrumental errors that arise from the errors due to imperfect design or
calibration of the measuring instrument, zero error in the instrument, etc.
Example:

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(i) The temperature graduations of a thermometer may be inadequately

should read 100 °C);

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calibrated (it may read 104 °C at the boiling point of water at STP whereas it

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(ii) In a vernier callipers the zero mark of vernier scale may not coincide with the
zero mark of the main scale;

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(iii) An ordinary metre scale may be worn off at one end

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(b) Imperfection in experimental technique or procedure:

These errors are due to the limitations of the experimental arrangement or

procedure

Example:
To determine the temperature of a human body, a thermometer placed under
the armpit will always give a temperature lower than the actual value of the body
temperature.
(c) Personal errors:
The personal errors arise due to an individual’s bias, lack of proper setting of the
apparatus or individual’s carelessness in taking observations without observing
proper precautions, etc.
Example:
If you hold your head a bit too far to the right while reading the position of a
needle on the scale, you will introduce an error due to parallax.
Systematic errors can be minimized by:
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personal bias as far as possible
II. Random errors
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improving experimental techniques, selecting better instruments and removing

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The random errors are those errors, which occur irregularly and hence are
random with respect to sign and size.

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These can arise due to random and unpredictable fluctuations in experimental
conditions, personal errors by the observer taking readings, etc.
Example:

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When the same person repeats the same observation, it is very likely that he may
get different readings every time.
Least count error
Least count:

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The smallest value that can be measured by the measuring instrument is called its
least count.
The least count error is the error associated with the resolution of the instrument.
Example:
(i) A Vernier caliper’s has the least count as 0.01 cm;
(ii) A spherometer may have a least count of 0.001 cm.
Using instruments of higher precision, improving experimental techniques, etc.,
we can reduce the least count error.
Repeating the observations several times and taking the arithmetic mean of all
the observations, the mean value would be very close to the true value of the
measured quantity.
SIGNIFICANT FIGURES

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The reported result of measurement is a number that includes all digits in the

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number that are known reliably plus the first digit that is uncertain.
The reliable digits plus the first uncertain digit are known as significant digits or
significant figures.
Example:

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(i) The period of oscillation of a simple pendulum is 2.36 s; the digits 2 and 3 are

three significant figures.

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reliable and certain, while the digit 6 is uncertain. Thus, the measured value has

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(ii) The length of an object reported after measurement to be 287.5 cm has four
significant figures, the digits 2, 8, 7 are certain while the digit 5 is uncertain.

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Rounding off the Uncertain Digits
Rounding off a number means dropping of digits which are not significant. The

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following rules are followed for rounding off the number:
1. If the digits to be dropped are greater than five, then add one to the preceding

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significant figure.
2. If the digit to be dropped is less than five then it is dropped without bringing
any change in the preceding significant figure.
3. If the digit to be dropped is five, then the preceding digit will be left
unchanged if the preceding digit is even and it will be increased by
one if it is odd.
Dimensions
Dimensions of a physical quantity are the powers to which the fundamental units
are raised to obtain one unit of that quantity.
Dimensional Analysis
Dimensional analysis is the practice of checking relations between physical
quantities by identifying the dimensions of the physical quantities. These

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dimensions are independent of the numerical multiples and constants and all the

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quantities in the world can be expressed as a function of the fundamental
dimensions.
Dimensional Formula

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The expression showing the powers to which the fundamental units are to be
raised to obtain one unit of a derived quantity is called the dimensional
formula of that quantity.

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If Q is the unit of a derived quantity represented by [ Q] = [MaLbTc ] , then MaLbTc
is called dimensional formula and the exponents a, b and, c are called the dimen-

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sions.
Pressure: [ ML-1 T -2 ]
Dimensional Constants

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The physical quantities which have dimensions and have a fixed value are called

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dimensional constants.
e.g.: Gravitational constant (G), Planck’s constant (h), Universal gas constant (R),
Velocity of light in a vacuum (C), etc.

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Dimensionless quantities
Dimensionless quantities are those which do not have dimensions but have a
fixed value.
• Dimensionless quantities without units: Pure numbers, π, sin θ, cos θ, tan θ
etc.
 • Dimensionless quantities with units:
Angular displacement – radian,
Joule’s constant – joule/calorie, etc.
Dimensional variables
Dimensional variables are those physical quantities which have dimensions and
do not have a fixed value.
e.g.: velocity, acceleration, force, work, power, etc.
Dimensionless variables
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dimensions and do not have a fixed value.

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Dimensionless variables are those physical quantities which do not have

For example Specific gravity, refractive index, the coefficient of friction, Poisson’s

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ratio, etc.

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Law of Homogeneity of Dimensions
In any correct equation representing the relation between physical quantities,

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the dimensions of all the terms must be the same on both sides. Terms
separated by ‘+’ or ‘–’ must have the same dimensions.

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Limitations of Dimensional Analysis
1. Dimensionless quantities cannot be determined by this method.

functions.

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2. This method is not applicable to trigonometric, logarithmic and exponential

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3. This method can only test the dimensional validity ,but not the exact
relationship between physical quantities in any equation
4. It does not distinguish between physical quantities having same
dimensions.
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