Physical Quantities and Units

Physical Quantities and Units

1. Physical quantities

Physical quantity is a quantity that can be measured. Physical quantities can be classi ed into two: fundamental quantities and derived quantities. Quantities which cannot be expressed in terms of any other physical quantities are called fundamental quantities. Example: Length, mass, time, temperature. Quantities like area, volume and density can be expressed in terms of some other quantities. They are called derived quantities.

Physical quantities have a numerical value (a number) and a unit of measurement (say, 3 kilogram). Suppose you are buying 3 kilograms of vegetable in a shop. Here, 3 is the numerical value and kilogram is the unit. Let us see about units now.

2. Unit

A unit is the standard quantity with which unknown quantities are compared. It is defined as a specific magnitude of a physical quantity that has been adopted by law or convention. For example, feet is the unit for measuring length. That means, 10 feet is equal to 10 times the definite predetermined length, called feet. Our forefathers used units like muzham, furlong (660 feet), mile (5280 feet) to measure length.

Many of the ancient systems of measurement were based on the dimensions of human body. As a result, unit of measurement varied from person to person and also from location to location. In earlier time, different unit systems were used by people from different countries. Some of the unit systems followed earlier are given below in Table 1.

But, at the end of the Second World War there was a necessity to use worldwide system of measurement. Hence, SI (International System of Units) system of units was developed and recommended by General Conference on Weights and Measures in 1960 for international usage.