General Physics

Aims:
 The Greek Alphabet
 Units
 Prefixes
 Provided Data

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 The Greek Alphabet
• When writing equations and defining terms, letters from the Greek
alphabet are often used, this (usually) avoids using the same letters
to represent different physical quantities.
• The table below gives the letters of the Greek alphabet.
Upper Lower Upper Lower Upper Lower
Name Name Name
Case Case Case Case Case Case
alpha   iota   rho  
beta   kappa   sigma  
gamma   lambda   tau  
delta   mu   upsilon  
epsilon   nu   phi  
zeta   xi   chi  
eta   omicron   psi  
theta   pi   omega  

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 Système Internationale d’Unités
• Scientists use the Système Internationale d’Unités, which defines
the ‘SI units’. The system was developed from the metre-kilogram-
second (mks) system.

• Système Internationale (SI) units are used to communicate the size

of quantities effectively.

• There are two types of SI Units:

 base units
 derived units

• From combining the SI base units, SI derived units can be made, for
example metres-per-second (ms-1) for speed.

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 Base Units
• There are seven SI base units.
• The base units are precisely defined by measurable physical properties.
• However, the definition of the kilogram is the most poorly defined, as it
requires comparison to a reference object, the prototype kilogram.
• The radian (rad) is a supplementary unit used to define the size of angles.

Quantity Base Unit Symbol

length (x) kilogram kg
mass (m) metre m
time (t) second s
absolute temperature (T) kelvin K
electric current (I) ampere A
amount of substance (n) mole mol
luminous intensity candela cd

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 Derived Units
• Combinations of base units can be combined to form the derived
units of other quantities.
• There are a large number of SI derived units, all of which can be
written in terms of the base units.
• Many derived units are named after scientists.
Quantity Derived Unit Symbol
area (A) square metre m2
volume (V) cubic metre m3
density (ρ) kilogram per cubic metre kgm-3
velocity (v) metre per second ms-1
acceleration (a) metre per second squared ms-2
momentum (p) kilogram metre per second kgms-1
force (F) newton N (kgms-2)
pressure (p) pascal Pa (Nm-2)

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 More Derived Units
Quantity Derived Unit Symbol
energy (E) joule J
power (P) watt W
frequency (f) hertz Hz
electric charge (Q) coulomb C
resistance (R) ohm Ω
electromotive force (ε) volt V
electric capacitance (C) farad F
magnetic flux (ϕ) weber Wb
magnetic flux density (B) tesla T

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 Names and Symbols
• To avoid confusion, the names of the units are not capitalised.

• For example, the force of gravity, discovered by Sir Isaac Newton, is

measured in newton.

• However, the symbols of units named after scientists have the first
letter capitalised.

• For example, the symbol for the pascal is Pa.

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 Non-SI Units
• Occasionally, for convenience, it is useful to use units that are not
part of the SI System.
• In physics, commonly used non-SI Units are the electron volt (eV)
and the atomic mass unit (u), although they can be converted into
SI units.
Name Symbol Value
minute min 1 min = 60 s
hour h 1 h = 60 min = 60 s
litre l 1l = 0.001 m3
tonne t 1t = 1000 kg
electron volt eV 1 eV = 1.6 x 10-19 J
atomic mass unit u 1 u = 1.66 x 10-27 kg
astronomical unit AU 1 AU = 1.5 x 1011 m
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 Unit Prefixes
• Adding prefixes in front of units enables data to be presented
concisely and consistently.
• This means that large or small numbers can often be written
without taking up lots of space or using standard form.
• The prefixes have names and symbols, which are given in the table
below.

Multiple Name Symbol Multiple Name Symbol

101 deca- da 10-1 deci- d
102 hecto- h 10−2 centi- c
103 kilo- k 10−3 milli- m
106 mega- M 10−6 micro- µ
109 giga- G 10−9 nano- n
1012 tera- T 10−12 pico- p
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 Examples of Using Prefixes
• Only use one prefix at a time.

• For example, write 3 x 108 ms-1 as 300 Mms-1 not 300 kkms-1.

• Some examples of using prefixes are given below.

10 000 g = 10 kg ten kilogram

5 000 000 J = 5 MJ five megajoule
2 250 000 000 W = 2.25 GW two-point-two-five gigawatt
0.0064 A = 6.4 mA six-point-four milliampere
0.00001 m = 10 µm ten micrometre
0.000000032 F = 32 nF thirty-two nanofarad

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 Provided Data
• The values of commonly used quantities are given in the
following tables.

• They are usually provided on the exam paper.

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 Data
Quantity Symbol Value
gravitational field strength at Earth’s
g 9.81 ms-2
surface (acceleration of free fall)
magnetic constant
μ0 4π×10-7 NA-2
(permeability of free space)
molar gas constant R 8.314 JK-1mol-1

neutron rest mass mn 1.675×10-27 kg

Planck’s constant h 6.63×10-34 Js

proton rest mass mp 1.673×10-27 kg

speed of light in a vacuum c 2.99×108 ms-1

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 Data
Quantity Symbol Value
atomic mass unit u 1.66×10-27 kg
Avogadro’s Number NA 6.022×1023 mol-1
Boltzmann’s constant k 1.38×10-23JK-1
electric constant
ε0 8.85×10-12 Fm-1
(permittivity of free space)
electric force constant k =1/(4πε0) 8.99×109 mF-1
electron charge e 1.602×10-19 C
electron rest mass me 9.109×10-31 kg
gravitational constant G 6.67×10-11 m3kg-1s-2
Stefan-Boltzmann constant  5.67×10-8 Wm-2K-4

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