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Topic: units and measurement
By: Prakhar Pandey

Chapter -2
Units and Measurement

Measurement of any physical quantity involves comparison with certain basic

arbitrarily choosen, widely accepted reference called unit. Mathematically, measure of
a quantity Q = nu, where u is the size of unit and n the numerical value of given
measure.

From this it is clear that numerical value of a quantity is inversely proportional to the
size of unit, i.e. n = 1/u.

Fundamental and derived units

The number of physical quantities is quite large but we need a limited number of units
only for expressing all the physical quantities because they are interrelated with one
another. Thus, we may define a set of fundamental quantities and all other quqntities
may be expressed in series of these fundamental quantities. All other quantities are
called derived units.

Units of fundamental and derived quantities are respectively known as the

fundamental units and derived units. A complete set of these units both fundamental
and derived units, is known as the system of units.

The international (SI) system of units

SI system of nits has seven base units and two supplementary units. Seven base
quantities, their units with definitions are:

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SI units
Base quantity Name and Definitions
symbol
Length Metre (m) The metre is the length of path travelled by light
in vaccum during a time interval of 1/299,792,
458 part of 0 second.
Mass Kilogram (kg) It is the mass of international prototype of
kilogram (a platinum iridium alloy cylinder) kept
of international bureau of weights and measures
at Sevres, near Paris, France. 1889
Time Second (s) The second is duration of 9,192,631,770 periods
of the radiation corresponding to the transition
between the two hyperfine level of ground state
of cesium- 133 atom. 1967
Electric current Ampere (A) The ampere is that constant which if maintained
in two parallel conductors of infinite length, of
negligible circular cross section, and placed 1 m
apart in vacuum, would produce a force between
these conductors equal to 2 x 10-7 N/m of length.
1948
Thermodynamic Kelvin (K) The Kelvin is the fraction of 1/273.16 of the
temperature thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of
water. 1967
Amount of substance Mole (mol) The mole is the amount of substance of system
which contains as many elementary entities as
there are atoms in 0.012 kg of carbon 12. 1979
Luminous intensity Candela (cd) The candela is the luminous untensity in a given
direction of a source that emits monochromatic
radiation of frequency 540 x 1012 Hz and that has
a radiant intensity in that direction of 1/683 W/Sr
1979.

The two supplementary units in SI system are:

a) Radian for angle: it is the angle subtended at the centre by an arc of circle
having a length equal to radius of the circle. Its symbol is rad.
b) Steradian for solid angle: it is the solid angle which is having its vertex at centre
of the sphere, cut off an area of the surface of sphere equal to that of a square
with sides of length equal to the radius of the sphere.

NOTE: angle and solid angle are considered supplementary base units because
although these have units but they are both dimensionless.

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Dimensions
The dimension of a physical quantity are the powers to which the fundamental
(base) quantities are raised to represent that quantity. Generally, using the square
brackets round a quantity means that we are dealing with the dimensions of that
quantity.

The dimensional formula of a given physical quantity shows how and which of the
fundamental quantities represent the dimension of a physical quantity.

Dimensional formulae and SI units of some physical quantities commonly used in

physics are as follows:

Physical quantity SI unit Dimensional formula

Length, distance, Metre (m) [L] or [M0L1T0]
displacement, wavelength
Surface area, area of cross m2 [L2] or [M0L2T0]
section
Volume m3 [L3] or [M0L3T0]
Density kg m-3 [ML-3]
Speed, velocity ms-1 [LT-1]
Acceleration, acceleration ms-2 [LT-2]
due to gravity
Force, thrust, tension, Newton (N) [M1L1T-2]
weight
Linear momentum, kg ms-1 [M1L1T-1]
impulse
Work, energy, KE, PE, Joule (j) [M1L2T-2]
thermal energy, etc.
Power Watt (W) [M1L1T-3]
Pressure, stress, Pascal (Pa) or Nm-2 [M1L-1T-2]
coefficient of elasticity
Angular velocity rad s-1 [M0L0T-1]
Frequency, angular Hz or s-1 [M0L0T-1]
frequency
Angular acceleration rad s-2 [M0L0T-2]
Angular momentum Kg m2 s-1 [M0L0T-2]
Torque N- m [M1L2T-2]
Gravitational constant (G) Nm2 kg-2 [M-1L3T-2]
Surface tension Nm-1 [M1L0T-2]
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Some important dimensionless terms

Following physical terms are dimensionless: angle, solid angle, relative density, specific
gravity, strains, all trigonometric ratios, refractive index, mechanical efficiency, relative
permittivity, dielectric constant, relative permeability, electric susceptibility, magnetic
susceptibility, Q- factor of a resonant circuit, etc.

Principle of homogeneity of dimensions

According to the principle, a correct dimensional equation may may be homogeneous,
i.e. dimension of all the terms in a physical expression must be same.

Use of dimensional analysis

To check the dimensional correctness of physical relations As per principle of
homogeneity if the dimensions of each units on both the sides of physical relation are
same, then the relation is dimensionally correct otherwise wrong.

To establish the relation among various physical quantities If we know the factors on
which a physical quantity may depend, we can find a relation correlating the quantity
with these factors.

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