FORM 3 PHYSICS NOTES (Mufunga)

TOPIC 1: MEASUREMENT AND PHYSICAL QUANTITIES

Objectives:
I. Measurement of physical quantities
II. Taking readings on an instrument
III. Base and derived units
IV. SI units

 Physics is the scientific study of the natural world around us

 It focuses on the fundamental laws and principles that govern
the behavior of energy, matter and the universe as a whole

Physical Quantities and SI Units

1. Physical quantities consist of:

(a) Numerical magnitude – denotes the size of the physical
quantity.
(b) Unit – denotes the physical quantity it is expressing.

2. Physical quantities can be classified into:

(a) Base quantities

Basic quantity Name of the SI unit SI unit

length metre m
mass kilogram kg
time second s
Electric current Ampere A
Amount of mole mol
substance
Thermodynamic kelvin K
temperature
Luminous intensity candela cd
 (b) Derived quantities

 defined in terms of the basic quantities through equations.

 SI units for these quantities are obtained from the basic SI
units through the equations
Example 1.1
Density = Mass/ Volume (Unit for mass: kg, Unit for
volume: m³ )
Therefore unit for density = kg/m³

Units of measurements:
 SI units are used as standardised units in all
measurements in the world.
 SI is the short form for “International System of Units”.

Other Units
length mass time
1km = 1000m 1kg = 1000g 1h = 60min
1m = 100cm 1g = 1000mg 1min = 60s
1cm = 10mm

Examples of some derived quantities and their units

Derived quantity Name of Unit SI unit

area Square metre m²
volume Cubic metre m³
density Kilogram per Kg/m³
cubic metre
speed Metre per second m/s
Force Newton N
 energy Joules J
pressure Pascals Pa
Electric charge Coulomb C
frequency Hertz Hz

Submultiples
Prefix Exponent form SI symbol
Tera 10¹² T
Giga 10⁹ G
mega 10⁶ M
Kilo 10³ K
Deci 10⁻¹ d
Centi 10⁻² c
Milli 10⁻³ m
micro 10⁻⁶ µ
Nano 10⁻⁹ n
Pico 10⁻¹² p

 Submultiples and standard notation is used for cumbersome and

bigger numbers to contain them

Example
(a) 0.000 0031 m = 3.1 μm = 3.1 × 10-6 m
(b) 0.000 000 0012 s = 1.2 ns = 1.2 × 10–9 s

Length
 SI unit is metre (m)
 It is the distance travelled by light in a vacuum during a specific
time interval
 Length reads up to one decimal place
 Many length measurements are made with a ruler
  When taking a measurement with a ruler your eye must be
directly over the mark or the thickness of the ruler causes
parallax error
Mass
 The mass of an object is the measure o the amount of matter in it
 The SI unit of mass is kilogram
 Mass is different from weight because mass is a scalar quantity
while weight is a base quantity
 There are several balances that are used to measure mass that is
beam balance, lever balance or a digital top pan balance
Time
 SI unit for time is the second (s)
 A stopwatch is used for measuring time

Practical work
Period of a simple pendulum
 In this investigation you have to make time measurements using
a stopwatch or clock.

Procedure
 Attach a small metal ball (called a bob) to a piece of
string, and suspend it as shown in Figure 1.8.
 Pull the bob a small distance to one side, and then release
it so that it oscillates to and fro through a small angle.
 Find the time for the bob to make several complete
oscillations; one oscillation is from A to O to B to O to A
(Figure 1.8).
 Repeat the timing a few times for the same number of
oscillations and work out the average.
The time for one oscillation is the period T.
 The frequency f of the oscillations is the number of complete
oscillations per second and equals 1/T.
Calculate f.
How does the amplitude of the oscillations change with time?
Investigate the effect on T of
i. a longer string,
ii. a heavier bob.
Errors
 The most common errors in physics are random errors and
systematic errors

Random error
 They are errors made by the person carrying out the measuring
and are usually down to timing incorrectly, or reading the
instrument incorrectly
 It is important to try to reduce or limit the effect of random
errors in measuring
 Reaction time errors and parallax errors are examples of random
errors
 Parallax errors is caused by a student not reading the
measurement at eye level and it can lead to the reading being
too high or too low
 Random error can be reduced by taking multiple measurements
and average the results
Systematic errors(zero errors)
 Zero error are caused by faulty equipment that doesn’t reset to
zero properly.
 Systematic error could be caused by instrument calibration
failure
  Check before you start measuring that the measuring instrument
reads to zero for zero input
 A zero error would affect every reading you take
 The digital balance will be wrong by 0.02g on every mass you
measure
 Systematic error can be reduced by regularly calibrating the
instruments to ensure they are providing accurate readings
Accuracy
 Accuracy is how close a measurement is to the true or accepted
value
 It is the degree of closeness between a measurement and it’s true
value
 If you measure an object’s mass as 2.011kg, but the actual mass
is 2kg, then your measurement is accurate
Precision
 It is a measure of how close multiple measurements of the same
thing are to each other
 The closeness off two or more measurements to each other is
known as precision
 For example, if you weigh a substance five times and get the
same weight each time, your measurement is precise
Some investigations may need a more accurate measurement of length
which can be achieved using Vernier calipers or a micrometer screw
gauge.
Vernier calipers
 Usually used to measure the internal and external diameters of
circular objects and it is a very precise measuring instrument.
 The circular jaws of the vernier calipers fit perfectly on the
circumference of round objects
 It has two scales; main scale which is fixed and a sliding vernier
scale
 It is useful in measuring the length of the object as well
 The main scale is in cm while the Vernier scale is in (0.01)cm

Example 1. Read the Vernier calipers measurement below?

Answer: reading from the main scale (OA) = 1.3cm

Reading from the Vernier scale (AB) = 0.6mm
(0.06cm)
Reading is obtained where the Vernier mar aligns exactly with
that from the main scale

Overall measurement = 1.3cm + 0.06cm

= 1.36cm
 Micrometer screw gauge

 This measures very small objects to 0.001cm.

 One revolution of the drum opens the accurately flat, parallel
jaws by one division on the scale on the shaft of the gauge; this
is usually 1/2 mm, i.e. 0.05 cm.
 If the drum has a scale of 50 divisions round it, then rotation of
the drum by one division opens the jaws by 0.05/50 = 0.001 cm.
 A friction clutch ensures that the jaws exert the same force
when the object is gripped

From the diagram the reading is

=2.5 mm on the shaft scale + 33 divisions on the drum scale
= 0.25 cm + 33(0.001) cm
= 0.283 cm
 Before making a measurement, check to ensure that the reading
is zero when the jaws are closed.
  Otherwise the zero error must be allowed for when the reading
is taken

SCALARS AND VECTORS

 A scalar quantity – has only magnitude(size) but does not have
direction. E.g. mass, distance, time, speed, work, power.
 A vector quantity – has both magnitude and direction. E.g.
weight, displacement, velocity, acceleration, force

Vectors
 Vectors can be represented graphically as arrows where the
length of the arrow indicates the magnitude and the direction of
the arrow indicates the direction
Addition of vectors
 It is the process of finding the sum of two or more vectors
 Vectors have both magnitude and direction and can be added
graphically or algebraically
 The result of vector addition is called the resultant vector
 To add vectors graphically we use the head to tail method (draw
the first vector on a graph, place the tail of each subsequent
vector at the head of the previous vector, draw the resultant
vector from the tail of the first vector to the head of the final
vector)
 The magnitude and direction of the resultant vector can be
determined using a ruler and protractor

Example
Find the resultant force R at point P due to F1 and F2
Method 1. Trigonometric method