SEMI – DETAILED LESSON PLAN IN GENERAL PHYSICS 1

School : SPJ INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE Grade Level: 11 and 12

INCORPORATED
Teacher: SANDRA P. VIVO Learning Area: General Biology 1
TOPIC / LESSON NAME GP1 – 01: Units, Physical Quantities, Measurement, Errors and Uncertainties,
Graphical Presentation, and Linear Fitting of Data
CONTENT STANDARDS 1. The effect of instruments on measurements
2. Uncertainties and deviations in measurement
3. Sources and types of error
4. Accuracy versus precision
5. Uncertainty of derived quantities
6. Error bars
7. Graphical analysis: linear fitting and transformation of functional dependence to linear form
PERFORMANCE STANDARDS Solve, using experimental and theoretical approaches, multiconcept, rich-context problems
involving measurement, vectors, motions in 1D, 2D, and 3D, Newton’s Laws, work, energy, center of mass,
momentum, impulse, and collisions
LEARNING COMPETENCIES 1. Solve measurement problems inv(oSlvTinEgMc_oGnPve1r2sEioUn-Ioaf-1u)nits, expression of
measurements in scientific notation
2. Differentiate accuracy from precision (STEM_GP12EU-Ia-2)
3. Differentiate random errors from systematic errors (STEM_GP12EU-Ia-3)
4. Use the least count concept to estimate errors associated with
single measurem(SeTnEtsM_GP12EU-Ia-4)
5. Estimate errors from multiple measurements of a physical quantity using variance
(STEM_GP12EU-Ia-5)
6. Estimate the uncertainty of a derived quantity from the estimated values and uncertainties of directly
measured quantities (STEM_GP12EU-Ia-6)
7. Estimate intercepts and slopes—and their uncertainties—in experimental data with
linear dependence using the “eyeball method” and/or linear regression formula (STEM_GP12EU-Ia-7)

SPECIFIC LEARNING OUTCOMES

TIME ALLOTMENT 180 minutes

Lesson Outline:
 1. Physical Quantities
Introduction/Motivation (10 minutes): Talk about the discipline of physics, and the discipline required to understand physics.
Instruction / Delivery (30 minutes): Units, Conversion of Units, Rounding-Off Numbers
Evaluation (20 minutes)

2. Measurement Uncertainities
Motivation (15 minutes): Discuss the role of measurement and experimentation in physics; Illustrate issues surrounding measurement through
measurement activities involving pairs (e.g. bidy size and pulse rate measurements)
Instruction/Delivery (30 minutes): Scientific notation and significant figures; Reporting measurements with uncertainty; Significant figures;
Scientific Notation ; Propagation of error; Statistical treatment of uncertainties Enrichment (15 minutes ): Error propagation using differentials

3. Data Presentation and Report Writing Guidelines

Instruction/Delivery (60 minutes): Graphing; Advantages of converting relations to linear form; “Eye-ball” method of determining the slope
and y-intercept from data; Least squares method of determining the slope and y-intercept from data; Purpose of a Lab Report; Parts of a Lab
Report

MATERIALS ruler, meter stick, tape measure, weighing scale, timer (or watch)

RESOURCES University Physics by Young and Freedman (12th edition) Physics by

Resnick, Halliday, and Krane (4th edition)

PROCEDURE MEETING LEARNERS’

Part 1: Physical quantities

Introduction/Motivation (10 minutes)

1. Introduce the discipline of Physics:

- Invite students to give the first idea that come to their minds whenever
 they hear “Physics”
- Let some students explain why they have such impressions of the field.
- Emphasize that just as any other scholarly field, Physics helped in
shaping the modern world.

2. Steer the discussion towards the notable contributions of Physics to humanity:

- The laws of motion(providing fundamental definitions and concepts to describe
motion and derive the origins of interactions between objects in the universe)
- Understanding of light, matter, and physical processes
- Quantum mechanics (towards inventions leading to the components in a cell
phone)

3. Physics is science. Physics is fun. It is an exciting adventure in the quest to find out
patterns in nature and find means of understanding phenomena through careful
deductions based on experimental verification. Explain that in order to study physics,
one requires a sense of discipline. That is, one needs to plan how to study by:
- Understanding how one learns. Explain that everyone is capable of learning
Physics especially if one takes advantage of one’s unique way of learning.
(Those who learn by listening are good in sitting down and taking notes during
lectures; those who learn more by engaging others and questioning can take
advantage of discussion sessions in class or group study outside classes.)
- Finding time to study. Explain that learning requires time. Easy concepts require
less time to learn compared to more difficult ones. Therefore, one has to invest
more time in topics one finds more difficult. (Do students study Physics every
day? Does one need to prepare before attending a class? What are the difficult
sections one find?)

Instruction / Delivery (30 minutes)

1. Units
Explain that Physics is an experimental science. Physicists perform experiments to
test hypotheses. Conclusions in experiment are derived from measurements. And
physicists use numbers to describe measurements. Such a number is called a
physical quantity. However, a physical quantity would make sense to everyone
when compared to a reference standard. For example, when one says, that his or her
height is 1.5 meters, this means that one’s height is 1.5 times a meter stick (or a tape
measure that is one meter long). The meter stick is here considered to be the
reference standard. Thus, stating that one’s height is 1.5 is not as informative.
Since 1960 the system of units used by scientists and engineers is the “metric
system”, which is officially known as the “International System” or SI units
(abbreviation for its French term, Système International).
To make sure that scientists from different parts of the world understand the same
thing when referring to a measurement, standards have been defined for
measurements of length, time, and mass.

Length – 1 meter is defined as the distance travelled by light in a vacuum in

1/299,792,458 second. Based on the definition that the speed of light is exactly
299,792,458 m/s.

Time – 1 second is defined as 9,192,631,770 cycles of the microwave radiation due

to the transition between the two lowest energy states of the cesium atom. This is
measured from an atomic clock using this transition.

Mass – 1 kg is defined to be the mass of a cylinder of platinum-iridium alloy at the

International Bureau of weights and measures (Sèvres, France).
 Figure 1. Length across the scales (adapted from University Physics by Young and
Freedman, 12th ed.).

2. Conversion of units
Discuss that a few countries use the British system of units (e.g., the United States).
However, the conversion between the British system of units and SI units have been
defined exactly as follows:

Length: 1 inch = 2.54 cm

Force: 1 pound = 4.448221615260 newtons

The second is exactly the same in both the British and the SI system of units. How

many inches are there in 3 meters?

How much time would it take for light to travel 10,000 feet?
How many inches would light travel in 10 fs? (Refer to Table 1 for the unit prefix
related to factors of 10).
How many newtons of force do you need to lift a 34 pound bag? (Intuitively, just
assume that you need exactly the same amount of force as the weight of
 the bag).

3. Rounding off numbers

Ask the students why one needs to round off numbers. Possible answers may include
reference to estimating a measurement, simplifying a report of a measurement, etc.

Discuss the rules of rounding off numbers:

a. Know which last digit to keep
b. This last digit remains the same if the next digit is less than 5.
c. Increase this last digit if the next digit is 5 or more.

A rich farmer has 87 goats—round the number of goats to the nearest 10. Round off

to the nearest 10:

314234, 343, 5567, 245, 7891

Round off to the nearest tenths: 3.1416,

745.1324, 8.345, 67.47

prefix symbol factor

atto a 10-18
femto f 10-15
pico p 10-12
nano n 10-9
micro μ 10-6
milli m 10-3
 centi c 10-2
deci d 101-1
deka da 10
hecto h 102
kilo k 103
mega M 106
giga G 109
tera T 1012
peta P 1015
exa E 1018
Table 1. Système International (SI) prefixes.

Evaluation (20 minutes) Conversion

of units:

A snail moves 1cm every 20 seconds. What is this in in/s? Decide how to report the answer
(that is, let the students round off their answers according to their preference).

10.cm 1in in
  0.01968503937007874015748031496063
20s 2.54cm s
10.cm
 0.05cm / s  5 102 cm / s .0020in / s  20.102 in /
s 20s
In the first line, 1.0cm/20s was multiplied by the ratio of 1in to 2.54 cm (which is equal to
one). By strategically putting the unit of cm in the denominator, we are able
to remove this unit and retain inches. However, based on the calculator, the conversion
involves several digits.
In the second line, we divided 1.0 by 20 and retained two digits and rewrote in terms of a
factor 102. The final answer is then rounded off to retain 2 figures.

In performing the conversion, we did two things. We identified the number of significant
figures and then rounded off the final answer to retain this number of figures. For
convenience, the final answer is re-written in scientific notation.

*The number of significant figures refer to all digits to the left of the decimal point (except
zeroes after the last non-zero digit) and all digits to the right of the decimal point (including
all zeroes).

*Scientific notation is also called the “powers-of-ten notation”. This allows one to write
only the significant figures multiplied to 10 with the appropriate power. As a shorthand
notation, we therefore use only one digit before the decimal point with the rest of the
significant figures written after the decimal point.

How many significant figures do the following numbers have?

.12343 1010
035
23.004
23.000
2.3104

Perform the following conversions using the correct number of significant figures in
scientific notation:
A jeepney tried to overtake a car. The jeepney moves at 75km/hour, convert this to the British
system (feet per second)?

It takes about 8.0 minutes for light to travel from the sun to the earth. How far is the sun from
the earth (in meters, in feet)?

Let students perform the calculations in groups (2-4 people per group). Let volunteers show
their answer on the board.

Part 2: Measurement uncertainties

Motivation for this section (15 minutes)

1. Measurement and experimentation is fundamental to Physics. To test whether the

recognized patterns are consistent, Physicists perform experiments, leading to new
ways of understanding observable phenomena in nature.
2. Thus, measurement is a primary skill for all scientists. To illustrate issues
surrounding this skill, the following measurement activities can be performed by
volunteer pairs:
a. Body size: weight, height, waistline
From a volunteer pair, ask one to measure the suggested dimensions of the other
person with three trials using a weighing scale and a tape measure.
Ask the class to express opinions on what the effect of the measurement tool
might have on the true value of a measured physical quantity. What about the
skill of the one measuring?
b. Pulse rate (http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/pulse-measurement)
Measure the pulse rate 5 times on a single person. Is the measurement
 repeatable?

Instruction / Delivery (30 minutes)

1. Scientific notation and significant figures

Discuss that in reporting a measurement value, one often performs several trials and
calculates the average of the measurements to report a representative value. The
repeated measurements have a range of values due to several possible sources. For
instance, with the use of a tape measure, a length measurement may vary due to the
fact that the tape measure is not stretched straight in the same manner in all trials.

So what is the height of a table?— A volunteer uses a tape measure to estimate the
height of the teacher’s table. Should this be reported in millimeters? Centimeters?
Meters? Kilometers?

The choice of units can be settled by agreement. However, there are times when the
unit chosen is considered most applicable when the choice allows easy access to a
mental estimate. Thus, a pencil is measured in centimeters and roads are measured in
kilometers.

How high is mount Apo? How many Filipinos are there in the world? How many
children are born every hour in the world?

2. Discuss the following:

a. When the length of a table is 1.51 ± 0.02 m, this means that the true value is
unlikely to be less than 1.49 m or more than 1.53 m. This is how we report the
accuracy of a measurement. The maximum and minimum provides upper and
lower bounds to the true value. The shorthand notation is reported as 1.51(2) m.
The number enclosed in parentheses
 indicates the uncertainty in the final digits of the number.
b. The measurement can also be presented or expressed in terms of the maximum
likely fractional or percent error. Thus, 52 s ± 10% means that the
maximum time is not more than 52 s plus 10% of 52 s (which is 57 s, when we
round off 5.2 s to 5 s). Here, the fractional error is (5 s)/52 s.
c. Discuss that the uncertainty can then be expressed by the number of meaningful
digits included in the reported measurement. For instance, in measuring the area
of a rectangle, one may proceed by measuring the length of its two sides and the
area is calculated by the product of these measurements.

Side 1 = 5.25 cm
Side 2 = 3.15 cm

Note that since the meterstick gives you a precision down to a single
millimeter, there is uncertainty in the measurement within a millimeter. The side
that is a little above 5.2 cm or a little below 5.3 cm is then reported as 5.25 ±
0.05 cm. However, for this example only we will use
5.25 cm.

Area = 3.25 cm x 2.15 cm = 6.9875 cm2 or 6.99 cm2

Since the precision of the meterstick is only down to a millimeter, the

uncertainty is assumed to be half a millimeter. The area cannot be reported with
a precision lower than half a millimeter and is then rounded off to the nearest
100th.

d. Review of significant figures

Convert 45.1 cubic cm to cubic inches. Note that since the original number has
3 figures, the conversion to cubic inches should retain this
 number of figures:
 1in 3
451.cm  3

 
 2.54cm 3
1in
 451.cm3   2.75217085... in3
16.387064cm3
45.1cm3  2.75 in3
Show other examples.

3. Review of scientific notation

Convert 234km to mm:

1000m 100cm
234km  1km  1m
 23400000cm
234km  2.34 107 cm

4. Reporting a measurement value

A measurement is limited by the tools used to derive the number to be reported in
the correct units as illustrated in the example above (on determining the area of a
rectangle).

Now, consider a table with the following sides:

 25.23±0.02 cm and 35.13±0.02 cm or
25.23(2) cm and 35.13(2) cm

25.23cm  35.13cm  886.3299cm2

8863.cm2  8.863102 cm2

What about the resulting measurement error in determining the area?

Note: The associated error in a measurement is not to be attributed to human error.

Here, we use the term to refer to the associated uncertainty in obtaining a
representative value for the measurement due to undetermined factors. A bias in a
measurement can be associated to systematic errors that could be due to several
factors consistently contributing a predictable direction for the overall error. We will
deal with random uncertainties that do not contribute towards a predictable bias in a
measurement.

5. Propagation of error
A measurement x or y is reported as:
x  x
y  y
The above indicates that the best estimate of the true value for x is found
between x – Δx and x + Δx (the same goes for y).

How does one report the resulting number when arithmetic operations are performed
between measurements?

Addition or subtraction: the resulting error is simply the sum of the corresponding errors.
 x  x
y  y
zxy
z  x  y

Multiplication or division: the resulting error is the sum of the fractional errors multiplied by
the original measurement
x  x
x  x
y  y
y  y x
. z
zxy
z x y y
  z x y
z x y  
z x y
 x y 
z  z    x y 
z  z  
 x y 
 x y 

The estimate for the compounded error is conservatively calculated. Hence, the resultant error
is taken as the sum of the corresponding errors or fractional errors.

Thus, repeated operation results in a corresponding increase in error.

Power-law dependence:
x  x
x
z  xn  z  nz
x
z  nx  z  nx
For a conservative estimate, the maximum possible error is assumed. However, a less
conservative error estimate is possible:

For addition or subtraction:

x  y  ...  p  q

2 2 2 2
z 

For multiplication or division:

 x 2  y 2  p 2  q 2
z  z       ...      
 x   y   p   q 
6. Statistical treatment
The arithmetic average of the repeated measurements of a physical quantity is the
best representative value of this quantity provided the errors involved is random.
Systematic errors cannot be treated statistically.
 N
1
x 
m
x i
N i1
mean:

N
1
x  x 
2
standard deviation: sd  i m
N 1 i1

For measurements with associated random uncertainties, the reported value is: mean
plus-or-minus standard deviation. Provided many measurements will exhibit a
normal distribution, 50% of these measurements would fall within plus-or-minus
0.6745(sd) of the mean. Alternatively, 32% of the measurements would lie outside
the mean plus-or-minus twice the standard deviation.

The standard error can be taken as the standard deviation of the means. Upon
repeated measurement of the mean for different sets of random samples taken
from a population, the standard error is estimated as: standard error sd
sd
 mean
N
Enrichment: ( minutes)
 df f
dx 
x
 df 
f  x  □ □ 
 dx 
  o

Figure 2. Function of one variable and its error Δf. Given a function f(x), the local slope at xo
is calculated as the first derivative at xo.

Example:
y  sinx
x  xo  x
d 
y  x

sin( x)
 dx  o

y  x cos( xo )
Similarly,
y  sinx
y  y  sinxo  x
y  y  sin( xo ) cos(x)  cos( xo ) sin(x)
y  y  sin( xo )  cos( xo )x
x  10.
cos(x) 
10. sin(x)
 x
y  cos( xo )x
Part 3: Graphing

Instruction / Delivery (60 minutes)

1. Graphing relations between physical quantities.

Figure 3. Distance related to the square of time (for motions with constant acceleration).
The acceleration a can be calculated from the slope of the line. And the intercept at the
vertical axis do is determined from the graph.

The simplest relation between physical quantities is linear. A smart choice of physical
quantities (or a mathematical manipulation) allows one to simplify the study of the relation
between these quantities. Figure 3 shows that the relation between the displacement
magnitude d and the square of the time exhibits a linear relation (implicitly having a
constant acceleration; and having no initial velocity). Another example is the simple
pendulum, where the frequency of oscillation fo is proportional to the square-root of the
acceleration due to gravity divided by the length of the pendulum L. The relation between
the frequency of oscillation and the root of the multiplicative inverse of the pendulum length
can be explored by repeated measurements or by varying the length L. And from the slope,
the acceleration due to gravity can be determined.

1 g
f o  21 L  1
f  g
o  
 2  L

2. The previous examples showed that the equation of the line can be determined from
two parameters, its slope and the constant y-intercept (figure 4). The line can be
determined from a set of points by plotting and finding the slope and the y-intercept
by finding the best fitting straight line.
Figure 4. Fitting a line relating y to x, with slope m and y-intercept b. By visual inspection,
the red line has the best fit through all the points compared to the other trials (dashed lines).

3. The slope and the y-intercept can be determined analytically. The assumption here is
that the best fitting line has the least distance from all the points at once. Legendre
stated the criterion for the best fitting curve to a set of points. The best fitting curve
is the one which has the least sum of deviations from the given set of data points
(the Method of Least Squares). More precisely, the curve with the least sum of
squared deviations from a set of points has the best fit. From this principle the slope
and the y-intercept are determined as follows:
 y  mx  b

  
N Ni   Nxi Nyi 
□i1  i1  i21 
m N
 N 
N  x i   xi 
2

i1  i 1 

 N
2  N   N  N 
 xi  yi     xi ii
 i1  i1N   iN1 2 i1 
b  
N  x i   xi 
2

i1  i 1 
The standard deviation of the slope sm and the y-intercept sb are as follows:
n  x2 
x   x 2
i
s  s n 2 s s n x 
m y
b y 2 x 2
i i i i

4. The lab report

Explain that in performing experiments one has to consider that the findings found
can be verified by other scientists. Thus, documenting one’s experiments through a
Laboratory report is an essential skill to a future physicist. Below lists the sections
normally found in a Lab report (which is roughly less than or equal to four pages):
Introduction
- a concise description of the entire experiment (purpose, relevance,
methods, significant results and conclusions).
Objectives
- a concise and summarized list of what needs to be accomplished in the
experiment.
Background
- an account of the experiment intended to familiarize the reader with the
theory, related research that are relevant to the experiment itself.
Methods
- a description of what was performed, which may include a list of equipment
and materials used in order to pursue the objectives of the experiment.
Results
- a presentation of relevant measurements convincing the reader that the
objectives have been performed and accomplished.
Discussion of Result
- the interpretation of results directing the reader back to the objectives
Conclusions
- could be part of the previous section but is not intended solely as a
summary of results. This section could highlight the novelty of the
experiment in relation to other studies performed before.

Prepared by:
SANDRA P. VIVO
Teacher