SUBJECT: GENERAL PHYSICS 1

 PHYSICS  10 as the base

- is a fundamental science that provides quite useful concepts in preparation for other disciplines.  -4 as the exponent
- the science of matter and its motion.
- is an experimental science (which discoveries are made possible by testing hypotheses through carefully  FOR LARGE NUMBERS - move the decimal point to the left and the exponent must be positive.
designed experiments involving precise measurements of physical quantities).
 FOR SMALLER NUMBERS – move the decimal point to the right and the exponent must be negative.
ROUNDING OFF NUMBERS

 Rounding Off Numbers: DECIMALS  Mathematical Equation with Significant Figures

1. Find the place value to be rounded off and look at the digit just to the right of it.  ADDITION
2. If that digit to the right is less than five, do not change the rounding digit drop all digits to the right of it. - when measurements are added, the sum shall contain decimal places equal to the least of decimal
3. If that digit is greater than or equal to five, add one to the rounding digit and drop all digits to the right of places in the addends.
it.
 SUBTRACTION
 Rounding Off Numbers: WHOLE NUMBERS - when measurements are subtracted from another measurement, the difference shall contain decimal
1. Find the place value to be rounded off and look at the digit just to the right of it. places equal to the least of decimal places contained either in the subtrahend or the minuend.
2. If that digit to the right is less than five, do not change the rounding digit but change all the digits to the
right of the rounding digit to zero.  MULTIPLICATION
3. If that digit is greater than or equal to five, add one to the rounding digit and change all the digits to the - when measurements are multiplied, the product shall contain a number of significant figures equal to
right of the rounding digit to zero. the least number of significant figures in the measurements multiplied.

 DIVISION
SIGNIFICANT FIGURES - when measurements are divided, the quotient shall contain a number of significant figures equal to
1. All non-zero digits are significant. the least number of significant figures in the measurements involve.
2. Zeros between two no-zero digits are always significant.
3. Zeros that simply set the decimal point in proper place are not significant. TOPIC: MEASUREMENT
4. All zeros which are simultaneously to the right of the decimal point and to the right of a non-zero digit are
significant.  PHYSICS is an experimental science – which discoveries are made possible by testing hypotheses
5. Terminal zeros are not significant but terminal zeros expressed by decimal point and by putting a bar above through carefully designed experiments involving precise measurements of PHYSICAL QUANTITIES.
the zero are considered significant.
 PHYSICAL QUANTITY
SCIENTIFIC NOTATION - is a quantity that is measurable.
 Reports a value in terms of significant figures multiplied by the appropriate power of ten. - it is to quantitatively describe a physical phenomenon and we use a number.
 Also referred to as powers-of-10 notation.
 Made up of three (3) parts (N x 10n):  MEASUREMENT
 COEFFICIENT – must be greater than or equal to 1 and less than 10 (1-9). - Made up of a number and a unit.
 BASE – must be 10. For example:
 EXPONENT – must show the number of decimal places that the decimal need to be moved to change 1. The length of a table is 2 meters long.
the number to standard notation. The negative exponent means that the decimal is moved from left to (The number is “2” and the unit is “meter”).
standard notation
 Example #1: 5.67x104  METRIC SYSTEM AND BRITISH SYSTEM.
 5.67 as the coefficient  METRIC SYSTEM
 10 as the base - Most countries in the world employ the metric system of measurement.
 4 as the exponent - The prefixes attached to metric units carry the same meaning for all base units.
- Constitutes units based on powers of 10.
For example:
 Example #2: 6.85x10-4 a. 1 kilometer is equal to 103 meters.
 6.85 as the coefficient b. 1 milligram is equal to 10-3 gram.
  BRITISH SYSTEM (ENGLISH SYSTEM/ IMPERIAL SYSTEM)
- Were used in Britain, the Commonwealth and the United States.
- Comprises units such as pound (for force), yard (for length) and ounce (for volume).
- Converting British units are much less straightforward.
For example.
a. There are 12 inches in a foot.
b. 3 feet in a yard.
c. 1,760 yards in a mile.

 INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF UNITS (SI UNITS)

- World’s most widely used system units, both in everyday commerce and in science.
- It is built upon a set of seven metric units – which are called fundamental units.
 Conversion of Units

 Fundamental Units and Derived Units.  Unit equality

- also known as conversion factor is an equation that shows the equivalent amounts of different units.
 Fundamental units (Base units)
- are the simple measurements for time, length, mass, temperature, amount of substance, electric TOPIC: UNCERTAINTIES AND ERROR
current and light intensity.
- expressed in fundamental units.  ACCURACY
- considered as the building blocks of the system. - It is how close a measurement is to the correct value for that measurement.
FUNDAMENTAL UNITS (BASE UNITS)
PHYSICAL QUANTITY UNIT NAME SYMBOL  PRECISON
1.mass kilogram kg - It states how well repeated measurements of something generate the same or similar results.
2. length meter m Therefore, the precision of measurements refers to how close together the measurements are when you
3. time second s measure the same thing several times.
4. amount of substance mole mol
5. temperature kelvin K ACCURACY PRECISION
6. electric current ampere A Accuracy indicates how close a measurement Precision indicates the closeness of two or
7. luminous intensity candela cd is to the correct or accepted value more measurements to each other
Your measurement will be close to the Your measurement will be similar every time
 Derived Units standard measurement. you measure.
- are combinations of two or more fundamental quantities. Accuracy is not dependent on precision. Precision is not dependent on accuracy.
DERIVED UNITS
EXPRESSED IN
PHYSICAL
UNIT NAME SYMBOL FUNDAMENTAL
QUANTITY
UNIT
1. force, weight newton N kg·m/s2
2. electric charge coulomb C s·A
3. energy joule J kg·m²/s²

 Unit Prefixes
- a prefix is a letter, or a group of letters added at the beginning of the base word to change its
meaning.
- In measurement, it can be used to make a new unit larger or smaller than the base unit.
 √
2
(
Formula: σ = σ 2= ∑ x−x
)
√ N
σ = standard deviation
2
σ = variance
x = measurement
x̄ = mean
N = number of measurements

 A standard deviation close to zero (0) indicates that the data points are close to the mean while high standard
deviation indicates that the measurements are spread out over a wide range of values.

 MEASUREMENT  MEASUREMENT = BEST ESTIMATE ± UNCERTAINTY

- a process of experimentally obtaining the value of a quantity. o BEST ESTIMATE
- equal to the mean of the given values/ measurement.
 MEASURAND o UNCERTAINTY
- the quantity that we intend to measure. - Standard Error of the Mean (SEM) to know the “uncertainty”.
- by dividing the standard deviation with the square root of the number of the measurements done.
 MEASUREMENT
σ
- the aim of a measurement is to obtain the TRUE VALUE of the measurand. Formula: SEM =
- have a certain degree of uncertainty. √N
- are not infinitely precise.
- UNCERTAINTY results from limitations of the instruments or the experimenter. TOPIC: VECTORS

 RANDOM ERRORS AND SYSTEMATIC ERRORS  SCALAR QUANTITY and VECTOR QUANTITY

 RANDOM ERRORS  SCALAR QUANTITIES

- It is usually result from the experimenter’s inability to take the same measurement in the same way - are quantities with magnitude (numerical value) with appropriate units of measurement only.
to get exact the same number Example:
o DISTANCE
 SYSTEMATIC ERRORS - is the measure of “how much ground an object has covered during its motion”
- There are reproducible inaccuracies that are consistently in the same direction. Systematic errors are - total movement of an object without any regard to direction.
often due to a problem which persists throughout the entire experiment.
 VECTOR QUANTITIES
 STANDARD DEVIATION - are quantities that have both magnitude and direction.
Example:
 VARIANCE (σ²) o DISPLACEMENT
- is defined as the average of the squared difference of the measurements (x) from the mean (x̄ ). - refers to the measure of “how far out of place is an object.”
2
∑ ( x −x ) - change in position of an object.
Formula: σ 2=
N
2  ADDITION OF SCALAR QUANTITY
σ = variance
x = measurement  SCALAR QUANTITIES
x̄ = mean - Rules of ordinary arithmetic.
N = number of measurements Example:
If you have 4 L of water in a container and you add 2.5 more liters. How much water does your container
 STANDARD DEVIATION (σ ) have?
– square root of the variance Asked: water in the container in L
Given: a. 4 L
 b. 2.5 L
Formula: Water in the container (L) = a + b
Solution: Water in the container (L) = 4 L + 2.5 L
Water in the container (L) = 6.5 L

 ADDITION OF VECTOR QUANTITY

 VECTOR QUANTITIES
- Usually name by capital letters.
- Printed in bold font.
- Normally denoted by a symbol with an arrow on top.
Example: ⃗
A
- Necessary to consider their directions.
- Is equivalent to composition of vectors, and the sum of the vectors is
the RESULTANT VECTORS.