UNIT, MEASUREMENT & DIMENSIONS Question Bank-PH-1

EASY QUESTIONS
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1. If we change unit of a physical quantity then
(a) its dimension changes (b) its dimension remain same
(c) it may change or may not change (d) its magnitude changes
Sol.: (b)
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2. The least count of a stop watch is 1/5 second. The time of 20 oscillations of a pendulum is
measured to be 25 seconds. The minimum percentage error in the measurement of time will be
(a) 0.1% (b) 0.8% (c) 1.8% (d) 8%
1
T
Sol.:  100  5  100  0.8%
T 25
 (b)
E
 y
3. Energy due to position of a particle is given by, U  , where  and  are constants, y is
y 
distance. The dimensions of ( × ) are
(a) [M0LT0] (b) [ M 1 / 2 L3 / 2T 2 ] (c) [ M 0 L7 / 2T 0 ] (d) [ ML7 / 2T 2 ]
Sol.: [] = L
2 –2 [ L]1 / 2
ML T =
[ L]
 = [ M ][ L ][T 2 ]
5/ 2

 (d)
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4. A wire is of mass (0.3  0.003)gm. The radius is (0.5  0.005)mm and length is (6.0 
0.06)cm then % error in density is
(a) 3 (b) 4 (c) 6 (d) -2
  0.005  0.003 0.06 
% error in density = 2    100 = 4
6 
Sol.:
  0.5  0.3
 (b)
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 a 
5. The equation of state of some gases can be expressed as  P  2 V  b  RT . Here, P is
 V 
the pressure, V the volume, T the absolute temperature, and a, b, R are constants. The
dimensions of ‘a’ are
(a) ML5T 2 (b) ML1T 2 (c) M 0 L3T 0 (d) M 0 L6T 0

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 UNIT, MEASUREMENT & DIMENSIONS Question Bank-PH-2

a
Sol.: Dimension of must be that of pressure
V2
MLT 2 a
2
 6
L L
5 2
a  ML T
 (a)
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6. We have error in the measurement of length, radius, mass and current of a wire are 2%, 3%,
2% and 1% then error in its density will be
(a) 11% (b) 8% (c) 10% (d) 7%
d 2r l m
Sol.:  100   100   100   100  2  3  2  2  10%
d r l m
 (c)

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7. A physical quantity x depends on qualities y and z as follows: x  Ay  B tan Cz , where A, B
and C are constants. Which of the following do not have the same dimensions?
(a) x and B (b) C and z–1 (c) y and B/A (d) x and A
Sol.: x  Ay  B tan Cz
From the dimensional homogeneity
x B
[ x]  [ Ay ]  [ B ]     [ y ]   
 A  A
[Cz ]  [ M L T ] = Dimension less
0 0 0

B
x and B; C and Z 1 ; y and have the same dimension but x and A have the different
A
dimensions.
 (d)

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8. The force F is given in terms of time t and displacement x by the equation
D
F  A cos B x  C sin Dt . The dimensions of are
B
(a) M 0 L0T 0 (b) M 0 L0T 1
(c) M 0 L1T 0 (d) M 0 L1T 1
So.: F  A cos B x  C sin Dt
[ D]  [T 1 ] ; [ B ]  [ L1 ]
 D  T 
 
1
0 1 1
 B    L1   M L T
 
 (d)

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 UNIT, MEASUREMENT & DIMENSIONS Question Bank-PH-3

E
9. The diameter of a wire is measured with a screw gauge having 50 divisions on circular scale
and by one complete rotation of circular scale, main scale moves 0.5 mm. If reading of
screw gauge is 0.250 cm. The minimum percentage error in the reading will be
(a) 0.4 (b) 0.8
(c) 4 (d) 5
0 .5
Sol.: Least count of screw gauge  = 0.01 mm
50
0.01
Percentage error in diameter =  100  0.4%
2.50
 (a)

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10. The length, width and thickness of a block are (100.0  0.1) cm, (10.00  0.01) cm and
(1.000  0.001) cm respectively. The maximum possible error in its volume will be
(a)  0.111 cm3 (b)  0.012 cm3 (c) + 0.03 cm3 (d) none of these
V l b t
Sol.:    and V = lbt
V l b t
 (d)

11. The dimensional formula of magnetic flux is

(a) [ ML2T 2 A 1 ] (b) [ ML0T 2 A 2 ] (c) [ M 0 L2T 2 A 2 ] (d) [ ML2T 1 A3 ]
 ML2T 2 
Sol.: 
d
 []  [][t ]    T   ML T A
2  2 1
 
dt  AT 
 (a)

12. Error in the measurement of radius of sphere is 2%. Then error in the calculation of volume
will be
(a) 1% (b) 5% (c) 3% (d) 6%
Sol.: (d)

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13. The velocity of water waves may depend on their wavelength , the density of water  and
the acceleration due to gravity g. The method of dimensions gives the relation between
these quantities as
(a) v 2  g 1 1 (b) v 2  g (c) v 2  g (d) v 2  g 12

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 UNIT, MEASUREMENT & DIMENSIONS Question Bank-PH-4

Sol.: [ LT 1 ]  [ L] x [ ML3 ] y [ LT 2 ] z
1 1
Solving, we get, x  , y  0 and z =
2 2
v  g
 (b)

MODERATE QUESTIONS

M
14. A dust particle oscillates in air with a time period which depends on atmospheric pressure P,
density of air d and energy of the particle E, then time period is proportional to
5 1 1 1 1 1 1
  
(a) P 6d 2 E 3 (b) P 2 d 3 E 2 (c) P 3 d 2 E 2 (d) P 2 d 2 E 3
Sol.: T  kp x d y E z
[T ]  [ ML1T 2 ] x [ ML3 ] y [ ML2T 2 ] z
x yz 0 …(1)
 x  3y  2z  0 …(2)
 2x  2z  1 …(3)
1
xz  …(4)
2
1
y
2
1
 y
2
3
by equation (2)  x   2 z  0
2
3
 x  2z  …(5)
2
Adding (4) & (5)
1
3 z  1, z 
3
1 1 5
 x  
2 3 6
 (a)
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15. Which of the following group have different dimension?
(a) Potential difference, EMF, voltage
(b) Pressure, stress, Young’s modulus
(c) Heat, energy, work-done
(d) Dipole moment, electric-flux, electric field
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 UNIT, MEASUREMENT & DIMENSIONS Question Bank-PH-5

Sol.: (d)
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16. If a copper wire is stretched to make its radius decrease by 0.1%, then the percentage
increase in resistance is approximately
(a) 0.1 % (b) 0.2 % (c) 0.4% (d) 0.8%
1
Sol.: In case of stretching R  4
r
R r
  100  4  100 = 0.4 %
R r
 (c)

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17. Two resistances of 400  and 800  connected in series with a 6 volt battery of negligible
internal resistance. A voltmeter of resistance 10,000 is used to measure the potential
difference across 400 . The error in the measurement of potential difference in volts
approximately is
(a) 0.01 (b) 0.02 (c) 0.04 (d) 0.05
6
Sol.: I  5  10 3 A
400  800
 Voltage drop across 400  = 5 × 10–3 × 400 = 2 V
Because of the presence of the voltmeter having resistance G = 10,000 in parallel with
400, the effective resistance is
400  10,000 10,000
 
10,400 26
10,000 50
 Voltage measured =  5  10 3  V
26 26
1
 Relative error in the measurement = = 0.04 volt
26
 (c)
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18. If there is a positive error of 50% in the measurement of velocity of a body, then the error in
the measurement of kinetic energy is
(a) 25 % (b) 50 % (c) 100 % (d) 125 %
1
Sol.: Kinetic energy E  mv 2
2
E v  v 2
2
  100  2
 100 = [(1.5)2 – 1] × 100
E v
E
  100  125%
E
 (d)

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 UNIT, MEASUREMENT & DIMENSIONS Question Bank-PH-6

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19. The pitch of a screw gauge is 1 mm and there are 100 division on its circular scale. When
nothing is put in between its jaws, the zero of the circular scale lies 4 divisions below the
reference line. When a steel wire is placed between the jaws, two main scale divisions are
clearly visible and 67 divisions on the circular scale are observed. The diameter of the wire is
(a) 2.71 mm (b) 2.67 mm (c) 2.63 mm (d) 2.65 mm
Sol.: p = 1mm, N = 100
P 1 mm
Least count, C    0.01mm
N 100
The instrument has a positive zero error e   NC  4  0.01  0.04 mm
Main scale reading is 2 × (1 mm) = 2 mm
Circular scale reading is 67 (0.01) = 0.67 mm
 observed reading is R0  2  0.67  2.67 mm
So true reading = R0 – e = 2.63 mm
 (c)

M
tI

V 0 
20. Charge on the capacitor is given by Q  Ie , where  and  are constant, t = time,

I = current, V = Potential difference then, dimension of is same as dimension of

1  1
(a) (b)  0  0 (c) 0 (d)
00 0 00

Sol.: (a)

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21. If the speed of light (c), acceleration due to gravity (g) and pressure (p) are taken as
fundamental units, the dimensional formula of gravitational constant (G) will be
(a) c 0 g p 3 (b) c 2 g 3 p 2 (c) c 0 g 2 p 1 (d) c 2 g 2 p 2
Sol.: G  c a g b p c ; M 1 L3T 2  LT 1   LT  ML
a 2 b 1
T 2 ; 
c
a  0, b  2 and c  1
 (c)

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1
22. The dimensions of are
00
(a) [ I 0 M 0 L1T 1 ] (b) [ I 2 M 4 L3T 1 ] (c) [ I 2T 2 L1M 1 ] (d) [ I 0 M 0 L1T 1 ]
Sol.: It is the speed of light in vacuum, hence the dimensions are LT–1
 (a)
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 UNIT, MEASUREMENT & DIMENSIONS Question Bank-PH-7

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23. What are the dimensions of electrical permittivity?
(a) ML–2 T–2Q–2 (b) M–1 L2T–3Q–1 (c) M–1 L–3T2Q2 (d) M–1 L3T–2Q–2

Sol.: Permittivity  
ch arg e2 
Q2
 M 1L3 T 2 Q 2
force dis tan ce 
2
2
MLT  L2

 (c)

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