01. Measurement

Base and Derived Quantities

• Physical quantities are classified as base (or fundamental) quantities and derived quantities.
  7 base quantities are chosen to form the base units.

• Any other physical quantities can be derived from these base quantities. These are called derived quantities.

Prefixes

• Prefixes are attached to a unit when dealing with very large or very small numbers.

Homogeneity of Units in an Equation

• A physical equation is said to be homogeneous if each of the terms, separated by plus, minus, equality or inequality signs has the same base units.

Uncertainty

• Absolute uncertainty of a measurement of $x$ can be written as $\Delta x$. This means that true value of the measurement is likely to lie in the range $x-\Delta x$ to $x + \Delta x$.
• Fractional uncertainty = $\dfrac{\Delta x}{x}$
• Percentage uncertainty = $\dfrac{\Delta x}{x}\times100%$
• If the values of two or more quantities such as $a$ and $b$ are measured and then these are combined to determine another quantity $Y$, the absolute or percentage uncertainty of $Y$ can be calculated as follows:
  • If $Y = a\pm b$, then  $\Delta Y = \Delta a+\Delta b$
  • If $Y = ab$ or $Y = \frac{a}{b}$ , then  $\frac{\Delta Y}{Y} =\frac{\Delta a}{a}+\frac{\Delta b}{b}$
  • If $Y = a^n$ then  $\frac{\Delta Y}{Y} = n\frac{\Delta a}{a}$

Errors

• Systematic errors are errors that, upon repeating the measurement under the same conditions, yield readings with error of same magnitude and sign.
• Random errors are errors that, upon repeating the measurement under the same conditions, yield readings with error of different magnitude and sign.

Accuracy and Precision

• The accuracy of an experiment is a measure of how close a measured value is to the true value. It is a measure of the correctness of the result.
• The precision of an experiment is a measure of how exact the result is without reference to what that the result means. It is a measure of how reproducible the results are, i.e. it is a measure of how small the uncertainty is.

Vectors

• A vector quantity has magnitude and direction.
• A scalar quantity has magnitude only.
• Addition of vectors in 2D: $\vec{a}+\vec{b}=\vec{c}$
• Subtraction of vectors in 2D: $\vec{a}-\vec{b}=\vec{d}$
  

• Methods of finding magnitudes of vectors:
  1. resolution of vectors into perpendicular components
  2. by scale drawing
  3. using:
     sine rule: $\frac{a}{\sin \alpha}=\frac{b}{\sin \beta}=\frac{c}{\sin \gamma}$
     cosine rule: $a^2 = b^2 + c^2-2bc \cos \alpha$