Study with the several resources on Docsity
Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan
Prepare for your exams
Study with the several resources on Docsity
Earn points to download
Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan
An in-depth exploration of fundamental and derived units in physics, including their symbols and si units. It also covers metric multipliers, significant figures, and orders of magnitude for various physical quantities. The document delves into uncertainties and errors, distinguishing between random and systematic errors. It explains absolute, fractional, and percentage uncertainties, and provides methods for calculating with uncertainties in addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and power operations. The document concludes with a discussion on vectors and scalars, their combination, and resolution.
Typology: Study notes
1 / 5
This page cannot be seen from the preview
Don't miss anything!
MASS kilogram kg DISTANCE meter m TIME second s ELECTRIC CURRENT ampere A AMOUNT OF SUBSTANCE mole mol TEMPERATURE kelvin K LUMINOUS INTENSITY candela cd
peta P 1015 tera T 1012 giga G 109 mega M 106 kilo k 103 hecto h 102 deca da 101 deci d 10 − centi c 10 − milli m 10 − micro (^) μ 10 − nano n 10 −
pico p 10 − femto f 10 −
● all non-zero digits are significant ● all zeros between non-zero digits are significant ● filler zeros to the left an understood decimal place are not significant ● filler zeros to the right of a decimal place are not significant ● all non-filler zeros to the right of a decimal place are significant IN MULTIPLICATION/DIVISION: give the answer to the lowest significant figure (S.F.) IN ADDITION/SUBTRACTION: give the answer to the lowest decimal place (D.P.)
mass of universe (^1050) kg diameter of universe (^1025) m diameter of galaxy (^1021) m age of universe (^1018) s speed of light (^108) m/s diameter of atom 10 −10m diameter of nucleus 10 −15m diameter of quark 10 −18m mass of proton 10 −27kg mass of quark 10 −30kg mass of electron 10 −31kg Planck length 10 −35m
Δy=Δa+Δb (sum of absolute uncertainties)
Δy/y=Δa/a+Δb/b (sum of fractional uncertainties)
⇒ can be horizontal / vertical with the total lengths of two absolute uncertainties
LINE OF BEST FIT: straight line drawn on a graph so that the average distance between the data points and the line is minimised MAXIMUM / MINIMUM LINE: 2 lines with the maximum possible slope and minimum possible slope given that they both pass through all the error bars UNCERTAINTY IN THE INTERCEPTS OF A STRAIGHT LINE GRAPH: difference between the gradients of the line of best fit and the maximum / minimum line UNCERTAINTY IN THE GRADIENT: difference between the gradients of the line of best fit and the maximum / minimum line
SCALAR QUANTITY: defined by its magnitude only ⇒ EXAMPLE: distance, speed, time, energy VECTOR QUANTITY: defined by both a magnitude and direction ⇒ EXAMPLE: displacement, velocity, acceleration, force COMBINATION AND RESOLUTION OF VECTORS
● when resolving vectors in two directions, vectors can be resolved into a pair of perpendicular component
