GENERAL

PHYSICS 1
MARIA MINDA L FLORES, LPT
SEPTEMBER 2, 2021
Topic 1: Measurement and uncertainties
MEASUREMENTS IN PHYSICS

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021
Learning Competencies
1. Solve measurement problems involving conversion of units,
expression of measurements in scientific notation
2. Differentiate accuracy from precision
3. Estimate the uncertainty of a derived quantity from the estimated
values and uncertainties of directly measured quantities
Topic 1: Measurement and uncertainties

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Physics has some of the most famous names in science.
▪ If a poll were to be taken on who is the most famous
scientist, many people would choose…

Albert Einstein
A PHYSICIST

▪ other people might choose…

Isaac Newton
A PHYSICIST
The physics we will study was pioneered by the following four individuals:
▪ Other greats will be introduced when the time comes.

Einstein
Galileo
Newton Relativity
Kinematics Maxwell
Calculus
Dynamics Electrodynamics
Classical Physics
Physics is the study of forces, and matter’s reaction to them.
▪ All of the sciences have examples of force:
▪ In biology, we have the bighorn sheep:
▪ In chemistry, we have the popping balloon

Fn1 F21 Kilo

Newtons
f1

F12 Fn2

W1
f2
W2
Physics is the study of the very small.

The little spring is meant to indicate that the

quarks inside a nucleon are held together by
a force we call gluon exchange.

▪ And the very large.

▪ And everything in Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300
between.
About 2 1021 meters in diameter
 WHAT is PHYSICS?
The study of matter, energy, and
the interactions between them
… in other words, everything!

“Physics investigates the essential nature of the

world, and biology describes a local bump.
Psychology … describes a bump on a bump.”

Willard Van Orman Quine,

American philosopher (1908 – 2000)

Physics is the study of the fundamental laws of nature.

Remarkably, we have found that these laws can be Branches of physics

expressed in terms of mathematical equations.
 Side Note
No theory is here to stay forever.
• Theory of Classical Mechanics (Newton) worked perfectly for more than 100
years – and still works in nearly all everyday situations.
• But failed to successfully describe fast moving small particles.
• Tools developed and data didn’t fit with established theories
• Leaders of Modern physics (Einstein, Planck, Heisenberg, Bohr, etc.) had to be
open-minded when data didn’t fit with established theories

“No amount of experimentation can ever prove me

right; a single experiment can prove me wrong”
-- Albert Einstein
 Side Note
Quantum mechanics is the science of the very small:
on the scale of atoms and subatomic particles.

Science of very fast:

● Special theory of relativity – Albert Einstein.
In nearly all everyday situations, Einstein’s theory gives
predictions almost the same as Newton’s.
Main distinction is in extreme case of very high speed
(close to the speed of light)

The new theory gave us much more:

Our view of the world is affected with that theory.
– Our concepts of space and time underwent a huge change
– mass and energy as a single entity ( E = mc2 ).
 SI Units
Stands for Système international d'unités. It is standard body of measurements,
the modern form of the metric system adopted in 1960.
▪The SI system is pretty much the world standard in units.
Why use SI units?
▪ universal
▪ easy (metric system)
▪ The fundamental units in the SI system are…
Length meter (m)
Mass kilogram (kg)
Time second (s)
Electric Current (I) ampere (A)
Temperature kelvin (K)
Amount of matter mole
Intensity of light/Luminosity candela (cd)

▪ You will also use the gram. In Chemistry. In physics we use the kilogram (SI unit).
 SI Units
Length – 1 meter (1m) is the distance traveled by the light in a vacuum during
a time of 1/299,792,458 second.

Mass – 1 kilogram (1 kg) is defined as a mass of a specific platinum-iridium

alloy cylinder kept at the International Bureau of
Weights and Measures at Sevres, France
▪ The International Prototype of the Kilogram was sanctioned in 1889. Its form is a cylinder
with diameter and height of about 39 mm. It is made of an alloy of 90 % platinum and 10 %
iridium. The IPK has been conserved at the BIPM since 1889, initially with two official
copies. Over the years, one official copy was replaced and four have been added.
1 kg is basic unit of mass, not, I repeat, not 1g !!!!!!!!!!

Time – 1 second (1s) is defined as 9,192,631,770 times the period of one

oscillation of radiation from the cesium atom.

▪ One meter is about a yard or three feet.

▪ One kilogram of mass has weight of 9.8 N
on earth or about 2.2 pounds in USA -.
 Learning Intentions

• You have already learned about…

– What is physics
– The 7 fundamental units
• What you will learn about…
– Derived units
– Converting between units
 Fundamental and derived SI units

▪ In the sciences, you must be able to convert from one set of units
(and prefixes) to another.

EX: Suppose the rate of a car is 36 kmh-1, and it travels for 4 seconds.
What is the distance traveled in that time by the car?

▪ distance: s = vt.

  36 𝑘𝑚 36 𝑘𝑚
𝑠= × 4 s= ×4s
h 3600 𝑠

s = 0.04 km
 Fundamental and derived SI units

Unit for any quantity that is measured or calculated in physics (generally

science) is combinations of seven basic /fundamental units.
Derived units are combinations of 7 basic ones.
▪ Speed - measured in meters per second (m s-1).
▪ Acceleration - measured in meters per second per second (m s-2).
▪ Mass density - measured in kilograms per meter3 (kg m-3).
A. SCIENTIFIC
NOTATION
SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
Very large or very small numbers can be expressed using scientific
notation.
 The number is written as a number between 1 and 10 multiplied by 10 raised
to a power.
 The power of 10 depends on
• The number of places the decimal point is moved.
• The direction the decimal point is moved.
 SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
Representing Large Numbers

• Representing Small Numbers

To obtain a number between 1 and 10 we must move the decimal point.

0.000167 = 1.67  10−4

 Scientific notation and prefixes

is that a reasonable way?

Much better way:
5.972 X 1027 kg
This is known as scientific notation

Swine flu virus: diameter of 10 to 300 nanometers

(nanometer is equal to one billionth of a meter)

0.0000000000001m becomes 1.0 x 10-13m

 Scientific notation and prefixes
EX: 1. The best current estimate of the age of the universe is
13 700 000 000 = 1.37 × 1010 years = 13.7 billion years
scientific notation prefix

2. electron mass = 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 91 kg
= 9.1 × 10-31 kilograms

Very large and very small numbers: either scientific notation or prefixes should be used

Power of 10 Prefix Name Symbol

10 -12 pico p
10 -9 nano n
10 -6 micro µ
10 -3 milli m
10 -2 centi c
10 3 kilo k
10 6 mega M
10 9 giga G
10 12 tera T
Recall that normalized scientific notation
requires the expression of a number as a power
of 10 multiplied by a factor between 1 and 10.
Thus 1.2103 is 1200, and 12102 is also 1200,
but 1.2103 is in normalized scientific notation
whereas 12102 is not.
 EXAMPLE:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_notation#Normalized_notation

4.321768 ks
-53 ks
9.72 Gs
200 ms
7.51 ns

0.00354 m = 3.54 x 10-3 m = 3.54 mm

 Scientific notation and prefixes

individually:
1) 0.00003004 = 3.004 X 10-5
2) 0.0456 = 4.56 X 10-2
3) 1045004 = 1.045004 X 106
4) 9340 = 9.34 X 103
5) 1.0053 X 10-3 (standard notation!) = 0.0010053
6) 5.302 X 104 (standard notation!) = 53020 more practi
ce
 base unit
1
femto pico nano micro mili kilo mega giga tera

f p n m m k M G T

10-15 10-12 10-9 10-6 10-3 100 103 106 109 1012
Smaller units centi (c) deci (d) Larger units
10-2 10-1

every step is 10± 1 power

They are grouped into steps 10± 3

NEXT: Unit conversions involving SI unit prefixes

EX:
from larger unit to smaller unit →
 5 𝑘𝑚 =¿ ¿ expect bigger number
=1

  103 𝑚 1𝑐𝑚
5 𝑘𝑚=5 𝑘𝑚 × (
1 𝑘𝑚 )( −2
10 𝑚 )
=5 ×10 5
𝑐𝑚

5  𝑘𝑚=5 ×10 3 𝑚=5 ×103 ×102 𝑐 𝑚

or
5  𝑘𝑚=5 ×10 5 𝑐𝑚
EX: The wavelength of green light is 500 nm. How many meters is this?
500
  𝑛𝑚=¿ 500
  ×10− 9 𝑚=5× 10−7 𝑚

EX: I have 906 gigabyte hard drive on my computer.

How many bytes of data will it hold?
906
  𝐺𝑏𝑦𝑡𝑒𝑠=906× 109 𝑏𝑦𝑡𝑒𝑠=9.06 ×1011 𝑏𝑦𝑡𝑒𝑠
DID YOU KNOW?
A dime is 1.0 mm thick. A quarter is 2.5 cm in diameter.The average height of an adult man is 1.8 m
Diameter of atomic nucleus ≈ 5 fm

Diameter of the atom ≈ 100 pm =100 000 fm

If an atom were as big as a football field nucleus would be about the size of a pea in the centre.
Conclusion: you and I and all matter consists of almost entirely empty space.
Diameter of a red blood cell ≈ 8 μm

Diameter of Earth ≈ 13 Mm

Diameter of sun ≈ 1.4 Gm

Diameter of Milky Way ≈ 9500 Tm

Scale of the Universe

visible universe is thought to be around 10 m
25
http://htwins.net/
Done with
units (fundamental and derived)
scientific notation
prefixes

Forward to …..
UNCERTAINTY
AND ERROR IN
EMASUREMENTS
 Uncertainty and error in measurement
No measurement can be "exact". You can never, NEVER get exact value experimentally
Error in measurement is expected because of the imperfect nature
of our measuring devices.
The inevitable uncertainty is inherent in all measurements.
It is not to be confused with a mistake or blunder

Accuracy is the closeness of agreement between a measured value

and a true or accepted value

Precision is the degree of exactness (or refinement) of a measurement

(results from limitations of measuring device used).
 Significant figures

▪ A ruler is an analog measuring device.

▪ So is a voltmeter with a needle.

1.28 units
EX: What is the length of the line?

certain digit: 1 0 1

certain digit: 2
uncertain digit: 7 or 8 estimate

SIGNIFICANT FIGURES are all certain (reliably known) digits + one uncertain (estimate)
 e
▪ On the other hand, if measuring with digital

lac
measuring device, one doesn’t know if the last digit

p
hs
is the result of rounding up, or rounding down

t
ten
or it is the measured digit.

SIGNIFICANT FIGURES are all certain

09.4
00.0
(reliably known) digits + one uncertain (last one)
Estimating quantities to an appropriate number of sig. fig.

EX: How long is this line?

It is 1.28 cm (or maybe 1.27 cm) long

▪ The 1 and the 2 are the certain digits.
▪ The 8 (or 7) is the uncertain digit

EX: What is the reading on each of the graduated cylinders?

Which digits are uncertain.
(A) (B)

Read to the bottom of the meniscus.

(A) reads 52.8 mL. The 8 is uncertain. (B) Reads 6.62 mL. The 2 is uncertain.
SIGNIFICANT FIGURES are reliably known digits + one uncertain (estimate)

(1) All non-zero digits are significant. 438 g 3

26.42 m 4
0.75 cm 2
(2) All zeroes between non-zero 12060 m 4
digits are significant. 900.43 cm 5
(3) Filler zeroes to the left of an 220 L 2
understood decimal place are not 60 g 1
significant. 30. cm 2
(4) Filler zeroes to the right of a 0.006 L 1
decimal place are not significant. 0.08 g 1
(5) All non-filler zeroes to the right of 8.0 L 2
a decimal place are significant. 60.40 g 4
 Significant figures in calculations

Multiplication and division – round your answer to the same number of

significant digits as the quantity with the fewest number of significant digits.

Addition and subtraction – round your answer to the same number of

decimal places as the quantity with the fewest number of decimal places.

Find: calculator result: proper result:

(1.2 cm)(2 cm) 2.4 cm2 2 cm2
(2.75 cm)2 7.5625 cm2 7.56 cm2
5.350 m/2.752 s 1.944040698 m/s 1.944 m/s
(0.0075 N)(6 m) 0.045 Nm 0.04 Nm

1.2 cm + 2 cm 3.2 cm 3 cm
2000 m+2.1 m 2002.1 m 2000 m
0.00530 m – 2.10 m -2.0947 m -2.09 m
Orders of magnitude

Mass of universe 10 50 kg
Diameter of universe 10 25 m
Diameter of galaxy 10 21 m
Age of universe 10 18 s
Speed of light 10 8 m s-1
Diameter of atom 10 -10 m
Diameter of nucleus 10 -15 m
Diameter of quark 10 -18 m
Mass of proton 10 -27 kg
Mass of quark 10 -30 kg
Mass of electron 10 -31 kg
Planck length 10 -35 m
 Quoting and comparing ratios, values and approximations
to the nearest order of magnitude

EX: Given that the smallest length in the universe is the Planck length of 10 -35
meters and that the fastest speed in the universe is that of light at 10 8
meters per second, find the smallest time interval in the universe.
▪ speed = d / t
▪ t = 10 -35 / 10 8 = 10 -43 seconds

EX: Find the difference in order of magnitude of the mass of the universe
(10 50 kilograms) to the mass of a quark (10 -30 kilograms ).

▪ Make a ratio (fraction) and simplify.

▪ 10 50 kilograms / 10 -30 kilograms = 10 80.
▪ Note that the kilograms cancels leaving a unit less power of ten.
▪ The answer is 80 orders of magnitude.
 Quoting and comparing ratios, values and approximations
to the nearest order of magnitude

EX:

▪ Diameter of nucleus is 10 -15 m.

▪ Diameter of atom is 10 -10 m.
▪ 10 -15 m / 10 -10 m = 10 -15 – (-10) = 10 -5.
 Quoting and comparing ratios, values and approximations
to the nearest order of magnitude
EX:

▪ The “92” in 92Sr means 92 nucleons.

▪ The mass of nucleons (protons and neutrons) is of the order of 10 -27 kg.
▪ 92 is of the order of 10 2.
▪ Thus 10 2  10 -27 kg = 10 -25 kg.
 Quoting and comparing ratios, values and approximations
to the nearest order of magnitude

EX:

VEarth = 10 12 km3 = 10 12  (10 3) 3 = 10 12 + 9 = 10 21 m3.

Vsand = 1 mm3 = 10 0  (10 -3) 3 = 10 0 - 9 = 10 -9 m3.

Nsand = VEarth / Vsand = 10 21 / 10 -9 = 10 21 – (-9) = 1030

 Quoting and comparing ratios, values and approximations
to the nearest order of magnitude
Estimation revisited
Another form of estimation is to solve complex problems with the
simplest math possible and obtain a ballpark figure as an answer.
If at all possible, only powers of ten are used.

EXAMPLE: NY and LA are separated by

about 3000 mi and three time zones.
What is the circumference of Earth?

 Since 3000 mi = 3 TZ, 1000 mi = 1 TZ.

 There are 24 h in a day – 24 time zones.
 24 TZ in one circumference, or 241000
mi = 24000 mi.
 Quoting and comparing ratios, values and approximations
to the nearest order of magnitude

The human heart rate is about 75 beats per minute.

This is between 10 1 (10) and 10 2 (100).
But 1 hour is 60 min, which is also between 10 1 (10) and 10 2 (100).
Then our answer is between 10 1  10 1 = 10 2 and 10 2  10 2 = 10 4.
THANK YOU