Physics Coursework
1.1(a) Discuss why metric and SI system is better to use in measurement. Explain and list at least 6 physical quantities scientists use in measurements.
There are several reasons as to why using the Metric System and SI Units are better to use. Each measurement has only one unit of measure regardless of the size which makes it a lot simpler to understand. Another factor that makes the metric system a better system to use is that the units use the same conversion, for example, 10, 100, 1000… therefore because all the units are the same you only have to move the decimal place.
6 Physical quantities used in measurements
A physical quantity is a quantity in physics that can be measured. The basis and fundamentals of physics rest upon these physical quantities and therefore allow the laws of physics to be expressed. This therefore means they must
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Mass – This is the quantity of matter in a specific body without looking into any forces acting upon it, often confused with weight however weight has measurements’ whilst forces are being acted upon it. In physics there are two ways of referring to mass. One being gravitational mass and the second being Inertial Mass. Gravitational mass suggests that there is a force of gravity acting against every objects, it tends to be measured by comparing the force of gravity of an unknown mass with the force of gravity of a known mass, usually on a scale balancing system as the scale is used to cancel out the gravitational force. This can be done anywhere as the masses will always cancel out each other because of the gravitational acceleration. Inertial force, a system defined by one of Newton’s Laws of physics, suggests that when a force is applied to an object that it will accelerate proportionally and that constant acceleration is the mass of the object. This is derived from Sir Isaac Newton’s 2nd Law of physics, and is calculated as ‘F = ma’ (Force = Mass x Acceleration) where Mass is measured in Kilograms