Show Menu
Cheatography

Units and Measurements Cheat Sheet by

Need for measurements, units of measurement, system of units, fundamental and derived units in SI, measurement of length, mass and time. Accuracy and precision of measuring instruments, errors in measurement. Significant figures.

Introd­uction

Need for measur­ements:
Physics is a science of measur­ement. It is to provide a proper descri­ption of any natural phenom­enon.
Physical quanti­ties:
A quantity which is subjected to measur­ement may be treated as a physical quantity.
Units of measur­ement:
>The unit >and numerical value

System of Units

S.No.
Name
Unit
Symbol
1.
length
metre
m
2.
mass
kilogram
kg
3.
time
second
s
4.
electric current
ampere
A
5.
temper­ature
kelvin
K
6.
amount of substance
mole
mol
7.
luminous intensity
candela
cd
8.
plane angle
radian
rad
9.
solid angle
steradian
sr
.
4 fundam­ental systems:
i) CGS (cm,gr­am,sec)
iii) FPS (ft,lb­,sec)
.
.
ii) SI (the above table of units)
iv) MKS (m,kg,sec)

Conver­sions

1 kilo m
103m
1 centi m
10-2m
1 milli m
10-3m
1 micron
10-6m
1 nano m
10-9m
1 angstrom
10-10m
1 X-unit
10-13m
1 fermi
10-15m
~
~
1 astron­omical unit (AU)
1.5 x 1011m
1 light year (ly)
1016m
1 parall­actic sound/­parsec (pc)
3.26 x 1016m

Derived units

Volume
length x breadth x height (m3)
Density
mass/v­olume (kg m-3)
Velocity
displa­cem­ent­/time (m-1)
Accele­ration
change in veloci­ty/time (ms-2)
Force
mass x accele­ration (kg m s-2)
Pressure
force/area (N m-2)
Work
force x displa­cement (kg m2s-2)
Power
work/time (J s-1)

Measur­ement of length

Direct methods
Least count= Pitch/ no. of divisions
Vernier calliper
0.01cm
Screw Gauge
0.001cm
Sphero­meter
0.001cm
Indirect methods
full form
Echo
(refle­ction)
RADAR
Radio Detection And Ranging
LASER
Light Amplif­ication by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
SONAR
Sound Navigation And Randing

Errors in measur­ement

Systematic errors
What is it?
Instru­mental errors
errors due to defected alignment
Error due to imperf­ection
imperf­ection of apparatus
Gross errors
improper adjustment of setup
Random Errors
>
_Small changes in conditions of experiment
_Incorrect judgement of the observer
Methods to express an error
how?
Absolute Error
The difference between the true and measured value
Mean Error
Arithmetic mean of errors of different measur­ements
Relati­ve/­Fra­ctional Error
Ratio of mean error to the true value
Percentage Error
Fractional error multiplied by 100

Signif­icant figures

Rules:
i) decimal point does not effect
ii) all 0's between two non-zeros are signif­icant
iii) all 0's to the right of non-zero digit and before the decimal point are not signif­icant
iv) all 0's after the decimal point are signif­icant
v) all 0's after the decimal point but before non-zeros are not signif­icant
                                                       
 

Comments

No comments yet. Add yours below!

Add a Comment

Your Comment

Please enter your name.

    Please enter your email address

      Please enter your Comment.

          Related Cheat Sheets

          Physics - Units and dimensions Cheat Sheet
          Units, Dimension & Measurements Cheat Sheet
          Master Measures & Weights with this Cheat Sheet Cheat Sheet