2、units and computer.pptVIP

Specialized English School of Physics Optoelectronic Engineering W. Zhang The S.I. system of units Different units for the same quantity can be very misleading. Scientists have agreed on a single system of units to avoid unnecessary effort and time converting between different units of the same quantity. This system, the System International, is based on a defined unit for each of five physical quantities, as listed in Table 1. Units of all other quantities are derived from the S. I. base units. Numbers and units Derived units: The following examples show how the units of all other physical quantities are derived from the base units. The unit of area is the square metre, abbreviated to m2. The unit of volume is the cubic metre, abbreviated to m3. Density is defined as mass per unit volume. Its unit is the kilogram per cubic metre, abbreviated to kg m-3. the negative sign in a unit means “per” (e. g. per m-3) The unit of speed is the metre per second, abbreviated to m s- Numerical prefixes These are used to avoid unwieldy numerical values. The most common numerical prefixes are: Standard form Numerical values smaller than 0.001 and greater than 1000 are usually expressed in standard form for convenience. The numerical values is written as a number between 1 and 10, multiplied by an appropriate power of ten corresponding to how many places the decimal point needs to be moved until the number is between 1 and 10. if the decimal point is moved to the right, the power of 10 will have a negative value. Standard form a. The mean radius of the Earth is 6 360 000 m. The decimal point after the final zero needs to be moved six places to left to arrive at 6.36. Therefore, in standard form, the Earth’s radius is 6.36×106 m. b. The speed of light in free space is 300 000 000 m s-1. this is written as 3.0×108 m s-1 in standard form. c. The wavelength of yellow light from a sodium lamp is 0.000 000 59 m or 5.9×10-7 m in standard form. Note