Fundamental Units

The metric system is a system of units of measurement established from its beginnings in 1874 by diplomatic treaty to the more modern General Conference on Weights and Measures - CGPM (Conferrence Gnrale des Poids et Measures). The modern system is actually called the International System of Units or SI. SI is abbreviated from the French Le Systme International d'Units and grew from the original metric system. Today, most people use the name metric and SI interchangeably with SI being the more correct title. SI or metric is considered the main system of measurement units used in science today. Each unit is considered to be dimensionally independent from each other. These dimensions are described as the measurements of length, mass, time, electric current, temperature, amount of a substance, and luminous intensity. This list has the current definitions of each of the seven base units.

Length - Meter ( m ) The meter is the SI unit of length. The meter is defined by the length of the path light travels in a vacuum during 1/299 792 458 of a second. Mass - Kilogram ( kg ) The kilogram is the SI unit of mass. It is the mass of the international prototype of the kilogram. There is a standard platinum/iridium 1 kg mass housed near Paris at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM).

Time - Second ( s ) The basic unit of time is the second. The second is defined to be the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the cesium-133 atomic ground state. Electric Current - Ampere ( A ) The basic unit of electric current is the ampere. The ampere is defined to be that constant current which, if maintained in two infinitely long straight parallel conductors which have negligible circular cross-section, and placed 1 m apart in vacuum, would produce between a force between the conductors equal to 2 x 107 newton per meter of length. Temperature - Kelvin ( K ) The kelvin is the unit of thermodynamic temperature. It is the fraction 1/273.16 of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water. Amount of a Substance - Mole ( mol ) The mole is defined to be the amount of a substance which contains as many entities as there are atoms in 0.012 kilograms of carbon-12. When the mole unit is used, the entities must be specified. For example, the entities may be atoms, molecules, ions, electrons, cows, houses, or anything else. Luminous Intensity - candela ( cd ) The unit of luminous intensity, or light, is the candela. The candela is the luminous intensity, in a given direction, of a source emitting monochromatic radiation of frequency 540 x 1012hertz with radiant intensity in that direction of 1/683 watt per steradian.

Derived Metric Units

Friday, June 15, 2012 5:03 PM

The metric or SI (Le Systme International d'Units) system of units has many derived units from the seven base units. A derived unit would be a unit that is a combination of base units. Density would be an example where density = mass/volume or kg/m3. Many derived units have special names for the properties or measurements they represent. This table lists eighteen of these specialized units along with their basic unit factors. Many of them honor famous scientists for their work in the fields which use these units. Note the units of radian and steradian do not actually represent any physical property to measure but are understood to be an arc length per radius (radian) or arc length x arc length per radius x radius (steradian). These units are generally considered unitless. Measurement plane angle solid angle frequency force pressure energy Derived Unit rad sr Hz N Pa J Name of Unit radian steradian hertz newton pascal joule Combination of Base Units mm-1 = 1 m2m-2 = 1 s-1 mkg/s2 N/m2 or kg/ms2 Nm or m2kg/s2

power electric charge electromotive force capacitance electric resistance electric conductance magnetic flux magnetic flux density inductance luminous flux illuminance catalytic activity

W C V F S Wb T H lm lx kat

watt coulomb volt farad ohm siemens weber tesla henry lumen lux katal

J/s or m2kg/s3 As W/A or m2kg/As3 C/V or A2s3/kgm2 V/A or kgm2/A2s4 A/V or A2s4/kgm2 Vs or kgm2/As2 Wb/m2 or kg/A2s2 Wb/A or kgm2/A2s2 cdsr or cd lm/m2 or cd/m2 mol/s

Physical Constant
Need a value for a fundamental physical constant? Typically, these values are learned only on the short term as you are introduced to them and forgotten as soon as the test or task is finished. When they are needed again, constant searching through the textbook is one way

to find the information again. A better way would be to us this handy reference table. Constant acceleration due to gravity atomic mass unit Avogadro's Number Bohr radius Boltzmann constant electron charge to mass ratio electron classical radius electron mass energy (J) electron mass energy (MeV) electron rest mass Faraday constant fine-structure constant gas constant Symbol g amu, mu or u N a0 k -e/me re mec2 mec2 me F R Value 9.8 m s-2 1.66 x10-27 kg 6.022 x 1023 mol-1 0.529 x 10-10 m 1.38 x 10-23 J K1 -1.7588 x 1011 C kg-1 2.818 x 10-15 m 8.187 x 10-14 J 0.511 MeV 9.109 x 10-31 kg 9.649 x 104 C mol-1 7.297 x 10-3 8.314 J mol-1 K-1

gravitational constant neutron mass energy (J) neutron mass energy (MeV) neutron rest mass neutron-electron mass ratio neutron-proton mass ratio permeability of a vacuum permittivity of a vacuum Planck constant proton mass energy (J) proton mass energy (MeV) proton rest mass proton-electron mass ratio Rydberg constant speed of light in

G mnc2 mnc2 mn mn/me mn/mp 0 0 h mpc2 mpc2 mp mp/me r C

6.67 x 1011 Nm2kg-2 1.505 x 10-10 J 939.565 MeV 1.675 x 10-27 kg 1838.68 1.0014 4 x 10-7 N A-2 8.854 x 10-12 F m-1 6.626 x 10-34 J s 1.503 x 10-10 J 938.272 MeV 1.6726 x 1027 kg 1836.15 1.0974 x 107 m-1 2.9979 x 108 m/s

vacuum