Principles of Physics
Twelfth Edition
International Adaptation
Halliday/Resnick/Walker
Chapter 1
Measurement
Copyright ©2023 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Section 1.1 Measuring Things - Including
Length
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Measuring Things - Including
Lengths: Learning Objectives
• Identify the base quantities in the SI system.
• Name the most frequently used prefixes for SI units.
• Change units (here for length, area, and volume) by
using chain-link conversions.
• Explain that the meter is defined in terms of the speed
of light in a vacuum.
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Measuring Things, Including Length
Physics and engineering are based on the precise measurement of
physical quantities. To obtain precise measurements, we need:
1. Rules for measurement and comparison
2. Units for measurement
• Definition of a unit:
o Is the unique name assigned to the measure of a quantity (mass,
time, length, pressure, etc.)
o Corresponds to a standard, a physical quantity with value 1.0 unit
(e.g. 1.0 m/s = one meter traveled every second)
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Base Quantities and Standards
• There are many different physical quantities, but not all are
independent: distance vs. speed (distance/time)
• Base quantities:
o Are seven fundamental quantities such as length, time
o Three are needed for mechanics: length, time, mass
o All have been assigned standards
o Are used to define all other physical quantities
• Base standards must be:
o Accessible, so precise measurements can be taken
o Invariable, so measurements do not change over time
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International System of Units (SI)
• SI units (the metric system) form the International System
of Units
• SI base units include
o Meters (length)
o Seconds (time)
o Kilograms (mass)
• SI has many derived units, which are written in terms of
base units
o Joules (work-energy): 1 J = 1 kg ∙ m2 ∕ s2
o Watts (power): 1 W=1 J ∕ s = 1 kg ∙ m2 ∕ s3
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Scientific Notation and Conversion
Factors
• Scientific notation employs powers of 10 to write large or small
numbers
3 560 000 000=
m 3.56 ×10 9 m
0.000 000 492=
s 4.92 ×10 −7 s.
• A conversion factor is
o A ratio of units that is equal to 1
o Used to convert between units
60s
(
2 min = 2 min
)
1 min
= 120 s
• Units obey the same algebraic rules as variables and numbers
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Accuracy and Reference Standards
• Needs for accuracy in science have driven changes in the standards for units
• In the past, 1 meter has been defined by:
1. One ten-millionth of the distance from the North pole to the equator
2. A platinum-iridium standard meter bar kept in France
3. 1 650 763.73 wavelengths of an emission line of Kr-86
Today,
The meter is the length of the path traveled by light in a vacuum during a time
interval of 1
of a second.
299 792 458
• In each transition, the new distance was chosen so that the approximate
length of 1 meter was preserved
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Significant Figures
• Significant figures are meaningful digits
• Generally, round to the least number of significant figures of the given data
o 25 × 18 → 2 significant figures; 25 × 18975 → still 2
o Round up for 5 + (13.5 → 14, but 13.4 → 13)
• Significant figures are not decimal places
o 0.00356 has 5 decimal places, 3 significant figures
• In general, trailing zeros are not significant
In other words, 3000 may have 4 significant figures but usually 3000 will have
only 1 significant figure!
When in doubt, use scientific notation 3.000 × 10 3 or 3 × 10 3
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Chain-link Units Conversions
Examples:
1.3 km ×
(1000 m ) =
1300m =
1.3 × 10 3 m
• (1km )
(1000 m ) (100cm )
• 0.8 km × × =
80000 cm
(1 km ) (1 m )
= 8 ×10 4 cm
(1 m ) ( 3.281 ft )
• 2845 mm × × =
9.334 ft
(1000 mm ) (1 m )
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Section 1.2 Time
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Time Units Learning Objectives
• Change units for time using chain-link conversions.
• Use various measures of time, such as for motion or as
measured on different clocks.
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Time Units and Measurement
Standards
• Any standard of time needs to be able to answer:
o When did a thing happen?
o What was its duration?
• Times follow the same conversion process as lengths
• Standards of time in the past have included:
1. Rotation of Earth
2. Quartz vibrations
3. Atomic clocks (cesium), with time signals sent out by radio so
others can calibrate their clocks
One second is the time taken by 9 192 631 770 oscillations of the
light (of a specified wavelength) emitted by a cesium-133 atom.
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Atomic Clock Precision
• The variation in the length of a
day as measured by an atomic
clock:
• The vertical scale here amounts
to only 3 ms, or 0.003 s.
• This shows the precision of
atomic clocks, and the relative
imprecision of Earth's rotation Figure 1.2.2
(affected by tides, winds)
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Section 1.3 Mass
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Mass Units Learning Objectives
• Change units for mass using chain-link conversions.
• Relate density to mass and volume when the mass is
uniformly distributed.
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Mass Units and Measurement
Standards
• The standard kilogram is a cylinder of platinum and iridium
stored in France.
• Accurate copies have been sent around the world, other masses
can be measured by comparing them against these copies
• The atomic mass unit (u) is a second mass standard
o 1 atom of Carbon-12 is assigned a mass 12 u
o Used for measuring masses of atoms and molecules
o 1 u 1.660 538 86 × 10 −27 kg ( + / −10 × 10 −35 kg )
=
• Masses follow the same conversion process as lengths and times
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Mass vs. Density
• Mass per unit volume is called density
m
ρ= Equation (1.3.2)
v
Examples Calculate . . .
(18 kg )
o Density of material : ( 0.032 m 3 ) = 560 kg/m
3
o Mass of object: ( 380 kg/m 3 ) × ( 0.0040 m 3 ) =
1.5 kg
Volume of object:
( 250 kg ) = 0.20 m 3
o
(1280 kg/m 3 )
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Chapter 1 Summary: Measurement
and SI Units
Measurement
• Defined by relationships to base quantities
• Each defined by a standard, and given a unit
SI Units
• International System of Units
• Each base unit has an accessible standard of measurement
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Chapter 1 Summary: Unit Conversion
and Length Units
Changing Units
• Use chain-link conversions
• Write conversion factors as unity
• Manipulate units as algebraic quantities
Length
• Meter is defined by the distance traveled by light in a
vacuum in a specified time interval
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Chapter 1 Summary: Time and Mass
Units
Time
• Second is defined in terms of oscillations of light emitted
by a cesium-133 source
• Atomic clocks are used as the time standard
Mass
• Kilogram is defined in terms of a platinum-iridium
standard mass
• Atomic-scale masses are measured in u, defined as mass of
a carbon-12 atom
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Chapter 1 Summary: Density
Mass
Density =
volume
m
ρ= Equation (1.3.2)
v
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Copyright
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