Physics
Abdulaziz Abukar Yusuf
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CHAPTER ONE
Introduction : physics and measurement
A. A YUSUF
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What is the physics ?
Physics deals with the nature and
properties of matter and energy.
Physics is based on experimental
observations and quantitative
measurements.
Matter is anything that has mass ,
volume and occupies space
Energy is the ability of doing work
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UNITS AND STANDARDS
Any physical quantity must have, besides its
numerical value, and standard unit. It will
be meaningless to say that the distance
between Mogadishu and jowhar is 90
because 90 kilometers is different from 90
meters or 90 miles, where kilometer, meter,
and mile are standards for length known all
over the world.
Several systems of units are used in physics:
The most common system among them is the
System International (French for International 4
Unit systems
Two systems of units are widely used in the world,
the metric and the British systems. The metric
system measures the length in meters whereas the
British system makes use of the foot, inch, ….. The
metric system is the most widely used.
Therefore the metric system will be used in this
course.
By international agreement the metric system was
formalized in 1971 into the International System of
Units (SI). There are seven basic units in the SI
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Unit systems
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Prefix Multipliers
The International System of Units uses
the prefix multipliers shown in Table 1.2
with the standard units.
These multipliers change the value of the
unit by the powers of 10 (just like an
exponent does in scientific notation)
For example, the kilometer has the prefix
kilo meaning 1000 or 103. 7
Prefixes Used with SI Base
Units
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Derived quantities
All physical quantities measured by physicists
can be expressed in terms of the three basic
unit of length, mass, and time.
For example speed is simply length divided by
time, and the force is actually mass multiplied
by length divided by time squared.
[Speed] = L/T = LT-1
[Force] = ML/T2 = MLT-2
where [Speed] is meant to indicate the unit of
speed, and M, L, and T represents mass, length,
and time units.
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Dimensional Analysis
The word dimension in physics indicates the
physical nature of the quantity. For example the
distance has a dimension of length, and the speed
has a dimension of length/time.
Unit (SI, cgs, British) Dimension Quantity
m2, cm2,ft2 L2 Area
m3, cm3, ft3 L3 Volume
m/s, cm/s, ft/s L/T Velocity
m/s2, cm/s2, ft/s2 L/T2 Acceleration
Newton (N), dyne, pound ML/T2 Force
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The dimensional analysis is used to check the formula,
since the dimension of the left hand side and the right hand
side of the formula must be the same.
Examples
Using the dimensional analysis check that this equation x = ½ at2 is
correct, where x is the distance, a is the acceleration and t is the
time.
Solution
This equation is correct
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Examples:
Show that the expression v = vo + at is dimensionally
correct, where v and vo are the velocities and a is the
acceleration, and t is the time
Solution
The right hand side
The left hand side
Therefore, the expression is dimensionally correct.
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Examples:
Show that the expression v = vo + at2 is dimensionally
correct, where v and vo are the velocities and a is the
acceleration, and t is the time
Solution
The right hand side
The left hand side
Therefore, the expression is dimensionally incorrect.
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Counting Significant Figures
First you should know that a number can have one
uncertain digit only (estimated).
The uncertain digit is counted as a significant figure
When counting significant figures, start from the first
digit other than zero and start counting to the right.
All zeros to the left of a nonzero digit are not significant.
All zeros between valued numerical digits are counted
(significant).
Zeros to the right of numeric digits are not significant,
unless a decimal point is present.
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Counting Significant Figures
The number 00215 has three SFs
The number 02015 or 002105 has four SFs
The number 215000 has three significant
figures and should be written in the
scientific notation as 2.15x105
The number 215.000 has 6 SFs, also the
number 2.15000 has six SFs
The number 0.000215 has only three SFs.
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Any digit that is not zero is significant
1.234 kg 4 significant figures
Zeros between nonzero digits are significant
606 m 3 significant figures
Zeros to the left of the first nonzero digit are not significant
0.08 L 1 significant figure
If a number is equals/greater than 1, then all zeros to the right of the
decimal point are significant
2.0 mg 2 significant figures
If a number is less than 1, then only the zeros that are at the end and in
the middle of the number are significant
0.00420 g 3 significant figures
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Addition and
Subtraction
Assume you are to sum the following numbers:
20.42 two digits to the right
1.322 three digits to the right
83.1 one digit to the right
Sum = 104.842
Since the result 83.1 has one digit to the right of the
decimal point, this is the highest uncertainty and the
answer should include one digit to the right of the
decimal point (answer = 104.8)
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Multiplication and Division
In multiplication and division, the number with the
least number of SFs defines the number of digits in
the answer.
Example
Find the area of a rectangle which has a length of
6.221 cm and a width of 5.2 cm.
5.2 has two SFs only while 6.221 has 4 SFs. The
answer should have only 2 SFs, that is 32 cm2 .
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The width, length, and height of a small box are 15.5 cm, 27.3
cm, and 5.4 cm, respectively. Calculate the volume of the box,
using the correct number of significant figures in your answer.
A calculator used for this calculation shows 2285.01, which we
must round off to two significant figures.
Because the resulting number is 2300, it is best reported in
exponential notation, to clearly indicate two significant figures.
Answer
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Rounding Off
In rounding off numbers, look at the
leftmost digit to be removed:
If the leftmost digit removed is less than 5,
the preceding number is left unchanged.
Thus, rounding 7.248 to two significant
figures gives 7.2.
If the leftmost digit removed is greater
than 5, the preceding number is increased
by 1.
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If the leftmost digit to be
removed is exactly 5, look at
the digit before it, increase it
by 1 if it is odd and do not
round off it is even
Rounding 4.735 to three
significant figures gives 4.74
(since 3 is odd), and rounding
2.45 to two significant figures 22
Vector and scaler
A scalar is the physical quantity that has magnitude
only, for example, time, volume, mass, density,
energy, distance, temperature.
Measuring Mass Measuring Temperature
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A vector is the physical quantity that has both
magnitude and direction, for example, displacement,
velocity, acceleration, force, area.
,,
Magnitude = 100 N
A Force
Direction = Left
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The vector quantity will be distinguished
from the scalar quantity by typing it in
boldface, like A. In write handing the vector
quantity is written with an arrow over the
symbol, such as,
The magnitude of the vector A will be
denoted by , or simply the italic type A
Equality of Two Vectors Any two vectors
are said to be equal if they have the same
magnitude and point in the same direction
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Scalars and Vectors
Examples of scalars and vectors
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Coordinate system
1. The rectangular coordinates
The rectangular coordinate system in
two dimensions is shown in Figure. This coordinate
system is consist of a fixed reference
point (0,0)
which called the origin.
A set of axis with
appropriate scale and label.
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2. The polar coordinates.
Sometimes it is more convenient to use the
polar coordinate system (r,),where r is the
distance from the origin
to the point of rectangular coordinate
(x,y), and is the angle between r and
the x axis.
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The relation between coordinates
The relation between the rectangular
coordinates (x,y) and the polar coordinates
(r,) is shown in Figure
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Example :
The polar coordinates of a point are r =
5.5m and =240.
What are the Cartesian
coordinates of this point
solution
x = r cos = 5.5×cos 240 = -2.75 m
y = r sin = 5.5×sin 240 = -4.76 m
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Example
A vector lying in the x-y plane has a magnitude
A=50.0 units and is directed at an angle of 120 to
the positive x axis, What are the rectangular
components of this vector?
Solution:
Component
Component
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The unit vector
A unit vector is a vector having a magnitude of unity
and its used to describe a direction in space.
i º a unit vector along the x-axis
j º a unit vector along the y-axis
k º a unit vector along the z-axis
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Components of a vector
Any vector lying in xy plane can be resolved into two
components one in the x-direction and the other in the
y-direction
Since, Ax = Axi and Ay = Ayj we can write Equation
where and are the x-component
and the y-component of the vector A,
respectively
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The magnitude of the vector A is given by
The direction of the vector to the x-axis
In general any vector A can be resolved into
three components as
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Properties of Vectors
Vector addition:
Only vectors representing the same
physical quantities can be added. To
add vector to vector as shown
in Figure , the resultant vector is
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Vector subtraction:
The vector subtraction is evaluated as the vector
subtraction
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We can added two vectors and by
analysis
=(
The magnitude is
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Example
Find the sum of two vectors and given by
= 3i + 4 j and = 2i - 5 j
Solution
Note that Ax=3, Ay=4, Bx=2, and By=-5
=(
=(3 + 2)i + (4 - 5) j = 5i - j
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The magnitude of vector is
The direction of with respect to x-axis is
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Example
If = 4i + 3j and = -3i +7 j, find the resultant vector =
Solution :
From the given information we have
we have
and
So we can write
=i+10j
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Example:
Two vectors given and calculate
(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) the direction of
Solution
(b) A+ B= (3i - 2 j) + (-i - 4 j) = 2i - 6 j
(c) A- B= (3i - 2 j) - (-i - 4 j) = 4i + 2 j
(d) = = 6.32
(e) = = 4.47
(f) for
for ,,
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