PHYSICAL QUANTITIES,

UNITS & MEASUREMENT

SCALARS AND VECTORS, MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES, UNITS AND SYMBOLS 1

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 SCALARS AND VECTORS
DEFINE THE TERMS SCALAR AND VECTOR.

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 PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
A physical quantity is one that can be measured and
that consists of numerical magnitude and unit.

PHYSICA
L
QUANTIT
VECTOR Y SCALAR
QUANTIT QUANTIT
Y Y
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 SCALAR

QUANTIT
Y
Magnitude NO Direction

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 VECTOR

QUANTIT
Y
Magnitude Direction

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 SCALARS AND VECTORS
LIST THE VECTORS AND SCALARS FROM DISTANCE, DISPLACEMENT, LENGTH, SPEED, VELOCITY,
TIME, ACCELERATION, MASS AND FORCE.

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 EXAMPLE OF SCALAR

volume
time density

power pressure energy

speed
distance mass

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 EXAMPLE OF VECTOR

displacemen t velocity

force

acceleratio
n
weight

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1. Which statement about scalars and vectors is correct?

A. A scalar has direction but no size.

B. A scalar has size but no direction.
C. A vector has direction but no size.
D. A vector has size but no direction.

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2. Which of the following correctly lists one scalar and
one vector quantity?

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3. Which of the following groups of physical
quantities consists only of scalars?
A. acceleration, force, velocity
B. acceleration, mass, speed
C. force, time, velocity
D. mass, speed, time

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4. Which list contains only scalar quantities?
A. acceleration, displacement, mass
B. acceleration, distance, speed
C. displacement, mass, velocity
D. distance, mass, speed

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5. Which is the correct statement about force and velocity?

A. Force and velocity are both scalars.

B. Force and velocity are both vectors.
C. Force is a scalar, velocity is a vector.
D. Force is a vector, velocity is a scalar.

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6. Which list contains only scalar quantities?
A. acceleration, displacement, velocity
B. distance, force, speed
C. force, length, time
D. length, mass, speed

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7. A student studies some equations.
power = work / time
force = mass × acceleration velocity =
displacement / time
How many vector quantities are contained in the equations?

A1 B 2 C3 D4

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8. The following statements are about motion.
1. 1 A plane flies due East for 600 km.
2. A runner’s average speed in a race around a track is 5 m/s.
3. A snail crawls at 3 mm/s in a straight line towards a lettuce.
4. A tourist travels 500 km on a journey.
9. Which statements describe vector quantities?
1. 1 and 2
2. 1 and 3
3. 2 and 3
4. 2 and 4

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 SCALARS AND VECTORS
DETERMINE THE RESULTANT OF TWO VECTORS BY A GRAPHICAL METHOD.

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 ADDING VECTOR
• In adding two vectors we need to consider
the direction of the vector quantities.

(a) 30 N 50 N

(b) 4m 8m

(c) 500 N 800 N

(d) 73 m 26 m

(e) 6 m/s 6 m/s

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VECTOR DIAGRAM

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PARALLELOGRAM METHOD

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 WORKED EXAMPLE

Find the resultant force acting on the rocket shown

below. State the direction of this resultant force.

4N

3N

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1. Set the scale of your drawing
• 1 cm to represent 1 N
1. Draw your two labelled vectors

4N

3N

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3. Complete your rectangle
4N

3N

4. Draw your resultant vector

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5. Measure your resultant vector and the direction

4N

3N

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 EXAMPLE

1. You walk 7 m south and then 3 m west. What is your

displacement from your starting point?
2. A toy car is moving 12 m eastwards. A child then pushes it
2.6 m northward. What is the resulting displacement of the
car.

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3. An aircraft can fly at a top
speed of 600 km/h.
a) What will its speed be if it flies into a head- wind of 100
km/h? (A head-wind blows in the opposite direction to
the aircraft.)
b) The pilot directs the aircraft to fly due north at 600
km/h. A side-wind blows at 100 km/h towards east.
What will be the aircraft’s resultant velocity? (Give both
its speed and direction.)

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4. A motorboat moved across a stream that
flows at 3.5 m/s. In still water the boat can
do 4.6 m/s. Find
a) the angle stream at which the boat must be pointed,
b) the resulting speed of the boat in the cross-stream direction.

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5. By using a geometrical instrument, find the
resulting vector for each of the following;

a) A displacement of 5 m and 7 m acting at 45° to

one another.
b) A velocity of 6 m/s and 8 m/s acting at 60° to one
another.
c) A force of 5 N and 4 N acting at 90° to one another
d) Two forces of 4 N and 6 N acting on a body with an
angle of 50° between them.

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1. Two forces act at right angles at a point O as shown.

1. What is the resultant of the forces?

A
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2. Which diagram correctly shows the addition of a 4 N and a
3 N force?

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3. Forces X and Y act on a block in the directions shown
on the scale diagram.

1. In which direction is the resultant force acting?

B
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4. Forces of 3 N and 4 N are acting as shown in the
diagram.

1. Which diagram may be used to find the resultant R of these

two forces?

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 A
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5. Two forces F1and F2act on an object O in the
directions shown.

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1. What is the direction of the resultant force?

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MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES
DESCRIBE HOW TO MEASURE A VARIETY OF LENGTH WITH APPROPRITATE
ACCURACY USING TAPES, RULES, MICORMETERS AND CALIPERS

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 PLATINUM-IRIDIUM BAR
FROM 1889 TO 1960, THE METER WAS DEFINED TO BE THE DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO SCRATCHES IN A
PLATINUM-IRIDIUM BAR.

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 ORANGE-RED LINE OF KRYPTON-86 PROPAGATING IN A
VACUUM
THE METRE IS DEFINED SUCH THAT THE SPEED OF LIGHT IN FREE SPACE IS EXACTLY 299,792,458
METRES PER SECOND (M/S)

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 THE METRE

• The metre or meter is a base unit of length in the metric

system used around the world for general and scientific
purposes.

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 MEASUREMENT OF LENGTH

• Metre rule is used to measure length of object.

• Precaution to be taken when using a ruler:
 Avoid parallax error – the position of eye must be in line
with the reading to be taken.
 Avoid zeros errors and end errors – if the ends of the ruler
are worn-out, it is advisable that measurements should
start from the 1 cm mark of the scale

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• Any instrument that are out of adjustment or with some minor
fault is still accurate as long as the zero error is added or
subtracted form the reading shown on the scale.

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 EXAMPLE

1. A girl uses a rule to measure the length of a metal rod.

Because the end of the rule is damaged, she places one end
of the rod at the 1 cm mark as shown.

How long is the metal rod?

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2. A piece of cotton is measured between two points on a ruler.

When the length of cotton is wound closely around a pen, it

goes round six times

What is the distance once round the pen?

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3. The diagram shows one method of measuring the diameter
of a beaker.

What is the diameter of the beaker?

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4. The diagram shows a thick-walled tube. The
thickness of the wall is 3 mm.

What is the internal diameter d of the tube?

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5. A floor is covered with square tiles. The diagram shows
a ruler on the tiles.

How long is one tile?

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6. A ruler is used to measure the length of a nail.

What is the length of the nail?

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 VERNIER CALIPER

Measure thickness or diameter of object correct

to 2 decimal places of decimals of a centimetre
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• The inside jaws which can be used to measure the internal diameters of
tube and containers.
• The depth bar at the end is used to measure the depth of a container.

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Unit and Measure
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 EXAMPLE
Write down the reading shown by the following

(a) (c)

7 8 6 7

0 5 10
0 5 1
0

(b) (d)
0 1
4
A B
5

P Q
5 0 5 10
0 10

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 barrel
anvil
spindle

main
rachet head
scale
circular
thimble
scale

MICROMETER SCREWGAUGE
Measure diameter of wire or thin rod correct to 3 decimal places of centimetre

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• Micrometer screwgauge is used to measured the diameter of
fine wires, the thickness of paper and similar small lengths.
• It has two scales: the main scale on the sleeve and the circular
scale on the thimble which have 50 divisions. One complete
turn of the thimble moves the spindle by 0.50 mm.
• Hence each divisions represents a distance of

0.50 mm
 0.01mm

50

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• There are number of precautions one should
take when using a micrometer:
• The thimble should never be tightened too much.
• Clean the ends of the anvil and spindle before making a measurement.
• Check for systematic error by closing the micrometer when there is
nothing between its anvil and spindle.

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 EXAMPLE

1. Write down the reading shown by the micrometer screw

gauge.
(a) (c)

0 5 30 10
0

5
25

(b) (d)
45
5 10 15
0 5 35

40
30

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2. Determine the reading of the following micrometer screw
gauge
(a)

0 20
5

15

(b)

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 RANGE & PRECISION

Range of
Instrument Precision
measurement

Measuring tape 0–5m 0.1 cm

Metre rule 0–1m 0.1 cm
Vernier calipers 0 – 15 cm 0.01 cm
Micrometer screw 0 – 2.5 cm 0.001 cm
gauge

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REVISION 1

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REVISION 2

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REVISION 3

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REVISION 4

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MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES
DESCRIBE HOW TO MEASURE A VARIETY OF TIME INTERVALS USING
CLOCK AND STOPWATCHES

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Unit and Measure
 TIME

• Time is measured in years, months, days, hours, minutes &

seconds.
• The second is the SI unit of time.
• All timing devices make use of some regular process such as
regularly repeating motions called oscillations.
• One regular oscillations is referred to as the period of the
oscillation.

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 CAESIUM ATOMIC CLOCK
THIS CLOCK DEPENDS ON THE OSCILLATION OF CAESIUM-133 ATOM.
THE ACCURACY IS TO 1 SECOND LOSS OR GAIN IN EVERY 20 MILLIONS YEAR.

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 STOPWATCH

• Stopwatches are used to measure short intervals of time.

• There are two types; the digital stopwatch and analog watch.
• The digital stopwatch is more precise as it can measure time
intervals of 0.01 seconds while the analogue stopwatch measures
in intervals of 0.1 seconds.
• One common error in using stopwatches is the reaction time in
starting and stopping the watch which is few hundredths of a
second (typically 0.3 s)

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 PRECISION
Measuring Smallest Precisi
Examples
Instrument Division on
Analogue
0.1 s 0.1 s 25.1 s, 25.2 s, 25.3 s
stopwatch
0.1 s 0.1 s 25.1 s, 25.2 s, 25.3 s
Digital
stopwatch 0.01 s 0.01 s 25.12 s, 26.13 s, 26.14 s

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1. A metre rule is used to measure a length.
2. Which reading is shown to the nearest millimetre?
A. 0.7 m
B. 0.76 m
C. 0.761 m
D. 0.7614 m

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2. In an experiment, a ball is rolled
down a curved track that is about half a metre long.

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1. Which measuring device should be used to
measure the length accurately?
A. metre rule
B. micrometer
C. tape measure
D. vernier calipers

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3. The diagram shows a vernier V placed against a scale S.

1. What is the vernier reading?

A. 2.23
B. 2.26
C. 2.33
D. 2.36

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4. The diagram shows part of a vernier scale.

What is the correct

reading?
A.30.5 mm
B.33.5 mm
C.38.0 mm
D.42.5 mm

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5. The width of a wooden block is measured using vernier
calipers.

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1. What is the width of the block?
A. 3.5 mm
B. 5.3 mm
C. 8.0 mm
D. 8.5 mm

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6. The diagram shows a vernier scale.

1. What is the reading on the vernier scale?

A. 6.50 cm
B. 6.55 cm
C. 7.00 cm
D. 7.05 cm

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7. Vernier calipers read to one tenth of a millimetre.
8. Which reading shows this precision?
A. 3.3 cm
B. 3.31 cm
C. 3.310 cm
D. 3.312 cm

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8. Vernier calipers are shown with the jaws closed.

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1. What is the zero error?
A. 0.04 cm
B. 0.05 cm
C. 0.14 cm
D. 0.15 cm

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9. The diagram shows a micrometer scale.

1. Which reading is shown?

A. 5.64 mm
B. 7.14 mm
C. 7.16 mm
D. 7.64 mm
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10. What is the reading on this micrometer?

A. 5.43 mm
B. 6.63 mm
C. 7.30 mm
D. 8.13 mm

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11. Which instrument is used to measure the internal diameter of
a pipe with a single measurement?
A. manometer
B. measuring cylinder
C. micrometer
D. vernier calipers

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12. A student has been asked to determine, as accurately as
possible, the volume of a piece of wire.

13. The wire is about 80 cm long and about 0.2 cm in diameter.

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1. Which measuring instruments should the student use?

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13. A manufacturer needs to measure accurately the dimensions
of a wooden floor tile.
14. The approximate dimensions of the tile are shown.

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1. Which instruments measure each of these
dimensions accurately?

A
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14. A stopwatch is used to time an athlete running 100
m. The timekeeper forgets to reset the watch to zero before
using it to time another athlete running 100 m.

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1. How long does the second athlete take to run 100 m?

A. 11.2 s
B. 11.4 s
C. 12.4 s
D. 23.8 s

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15. Two digital stopwatches X and Y, which record in minutes
and seconds, are used to time a race.
16. The readings of the two stopwatches, at the start and at the
end of the race, are shown.

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1. Which statement about the time of the race is correct?

A. Both stopwatches record the same time interval.

B. Stopwatch X recorded 10 s longer than stopwatch Y.
C. Stopwatch Y recorded 10 s longer than stopwatch X.
D. Stopwatch Y recorded 50 s longer than stopwatch X.

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16. The diagram shows a stopwatch, originally set at 00:00.
17. When a car was first seen, the stop-start button was pressed.
When the car passed the observer, the stopwatch showed
01:06.

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1. How long did the car take to reach the observer?
A. 1.06 seconds
B. 6 seconds
C. 66 seconds
D. 106 seconds

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17. A student uses a stopwatch to time a runner running around
a circular track. The runner runs two laps (twice around the
track). The diagrams show the reading on the stopwatch
when the runner starts running, at the end of the first lap,
and at the end of the second lap.

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1. What is the time taken for the runner to run the second
lap?
A. 0 min 50 s
B. 1 min 10 s
C. 1 min 13 s
D. 2 min 03 s

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18. Four athletes run twice around a track. The table shows
their times at the end of each lap.
19. Which athlete runs the second lap the fastest?

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19. One oscillation of a swinging pendulum occurs when the bob
moves from X to Y and back to X again.

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1. Using a stopwatch, which would be the most accurate way to
measure the time for one oscillation of the pendulum?

A. Time 20 oscillations and multiply by 20.

B. Time 20 oscillations and divide by 20.
C. Time one oscillation.
D. Time the motion from X to Y, and double it.

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20. A pendulum is set in motion and
20 complete swings are timed. The time measured is 30
s.
21. What is the time for one complete swing of
the pendulum?
A. 0.67 s
B. 0.75 s
C. 1.5 s
D. 3.0 s

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 UNITS AND SYMBOLS
RECOGNISE AND USE THE CONVENTIONS AND SYMBOLS CONTAINED IN ‘SIGN, SYMBOLS AND SYSTEMATICS’,
ASSOCIATION OF SCIENCE EDUCATION, 2000.

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 QUANTITES, SYMBOL UNIT

Quantity Symbol Unit

length l km, m, cm, mm
mass m kg, g, mg
time t h, min, s, ms
temperature , T ᵒC
current I A, mA

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 QUANTITES, SYMBOL UNIT

Quantity Symbol Unit

volume V m3, cm3
density  g/cm3, kg/m3
speed u, v km/h, m/s, cm/s
work done W, E J, kWh
pressure p, P Pa, N/m2
current I mA, A
resistance R 
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 SOME PREFIXES OF SI UNITS

Prefix Abbreviation Power Examples

micro  10-6 m, s
milli m 10-3 mm, mg
centi c 10-2 cm
kilo k 103 km, kg
mega M 106 MW, MB

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