Physical

Quantities and
Units

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
Physical Quantities and Units

BASE QUANTITIES DERIVED QUANTITIES

and base units and units

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 Units
 To communicate the result of a
measurement for a quantity, a unit
must be defined
 Defining units allows everyone to
relate to the same fundamental
amount

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 Types of Quantities
Basic Quantities and their units

Length meter (m), foot, inch

Mass Kilogram (kg), pound

Time second (s), hour, year
Electric current Ampere (A)
Temperature Celcius, Fahrenheit,
Kelvin (K)
Amount of substance Number, mole (mol)
Luminosity of light Candela (cd)

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 Types of Quantities
Derive Quantities

area Length x length m2

density mass / volume kg/m3 ( kg m-3)

force mass x kg m s-2

acceleration Newton (N)
pressure force / area N m-2 (Pascal, Pa)

work force x distance N m (joule, J)

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 Systems of Units
 Standardized systems
• agreed upon by some authority, usually a
governmental body
 SI system - Systéme International
• agreed to in 1960 by an international
committee
• main system used in this course

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 The SI System
Quantity Unit Standard
Length Meter Length of the path traveled
by light in 1/299,792,458
second.
Time Second Time required for
9,192,631,770 periods of
radiation emitted by cesium
atoms
Mass Kilogram Platinum cylinder in
International Bureau of
Weights and Measures, Paris

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 Scientific notation
 Style of writing
long numbers
precisely.
 Written in the
form of powers
of 10.

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 Scientific notation
 Style of writing
long numbers
precisely.
 Written in the
form of powers
of 10.

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 Scientific notation
Addition:
(3.1 x 102) + (1.2 x 104)
= (3.1 x 102) + (1200 x 102)
= 1203 x 102
Multiplication:
(3 x 102) x (12 x 10-6) = 36 x 10-4

Division:
(16 x 102) / (0.5 x 10-6) = 32 x 108

1200 m = 1.2 x 103 m

= 1.2 km
0.00006 g = 6 x 10-5 g
= 60 x 10-6 g
= 60 mg

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 SCALAR & VECTOR
QUANTITIES

VECTOR QUANTITIES
SCALAR QUANTITIES
Quantities with magnitude
Quantities with magnitude only
and direction

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 Scalars and Vectors
A scalar quantity– quantity has only
a magnitude (size)
– distance, speed, work, temperature,
area, density

A vector quantity– quantity that has

magnitude and direction
– position, velocity, force, magnetic field

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 Vector Notation
 In written form
A (bold) , A
 A vector quantity can be represented by
an arrow, drawn to scale in the
appropriate direction.

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 Mathematical operations
• addition and subtraction
Add/ subtract vector quantities of the same kind
Add/ subtract vector quantities of system of unit
Example: net force = gravitational force - frictional force

R1 + R2

Fnet = F1 + F2 + F3 + F 4
E1 - E2

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 Mathematical operations
• multiplication and division
Multiply/ divide a vector quantity with a scalar quantity
    
F  2a 3  F  3  ( 2a )  6a
 
  F 2a 2 
F  2a   a
5 5 5
Example: Force = mass x acceleration

diplacement of object
velocity of object =
time taken by the object

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 Mathematical operations
• multiplication and division of vectors

Multiply a vector quantity with another

vector quantity:
• dot product (scalar product)
Example: work W = F . s = F s cos q

• cross product (vector product)

^
•Example: torque t = r x F = r F sin q n

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 Addition of Vectors
 Geometric Methods
 Use scale drawings
• Tip-to-tail or Tail-to-tail

 Algebraic Methods
 Triangle method

 Component method

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 Geometrical method
 Choose a scale
 Draw the first vector with the
appropriate length and in the
direction specified, with
respect to a coordinate
system
 Draw the next vector with the
appropriate length and in the
direction specified, starting B
from the tip of the first vector
 The resultant is drawn from
the origin of first vector to the
end of the last vector
 Measure the length of and
its angle A
• Use the scale factor to convert
length to actual magnitude

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 Geometrical method
 Choose a scale
 Draw the first vector with the
appropriate length and in the
direction specified, with
respect to a coordinate
system B
 Draw the next vector with the
appropriate length and in the
direction specified, starting
from the tail of the first vector
 Construct a parallelogram.
The resultant is diagonal of
the parallelogram
 Measure the length of and
its angle A
• Use the scale factor to convert
length to actual magnitude

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 Analytical Method
 Triangle rule

a b c
 
sin A sin B sin C c b

c  a  b  2 a b cos C
2 2 2
a

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 Addition of Vectors
 Geometric Methods
 Use scale drawings
• Not convenient

 Algebraic Methods
 Triangle method
• Not practical for more than 2 vectors
 Component method
• Most practical

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 Components of a Vector
 It is useful to use
rectangular
components
• These are the
projections of the
vector along the
x- and y-axes

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 Vector Components
 The x-component of a
vector is the projection
along the x-axis

Ax  A cos q
 The y-component of a
vector is the projection
along the y-axis

Ay  A sinq
 Then, A = Ax + Ay

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 Vector Components

 The equations
Ax  A cos q
Ay  A sinq
are valid only if θ is
measured with
respect to the x-axis

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 Vector Components
All vectors can be
resolved into
components:
A  Ax  Ay

 The magnitude and

direction given by

 Ay 
A 2
A A
x
2
y and q  tan  
1

 Ax 
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 Resolving into components
 Resolving vectors into x-component and y-component
 The components can be positive or negative

By Cy
Ay
A D
B C
Dx
Ax
Bx

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 Component method

•Add all the x-components:

Rx  Ax  Bx  Cx  Dx  ........

 Add all the y-components:

Ry  Ay  B y  C y  Dy  ........

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 Component method
 Use the Pythagorean Theorem
to find the magnitude of the
resultant:

R R R
2 2
x
2
y R
Ry
or R  R  R 2
x
2
y
q
Use the inverse tangent
Rx
function to find the direction of
R:
Ry Ry
tan q  or q  tan 1

Rx Rx
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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics
 Addition of vectors
 Practical Examples
 Resultant displacement
 one after another

 Net force or resultant force

 Forces acting on an object

 Electric field at a point

 Electric field due to many point charges

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ASP 0501 Introduction to Mechanics