and SUPPLEMENTARY

UNIT
metre ( SI unit of Length)
1m is defined as length of path travelled by light in vacuum in 1/299792458
of a second.
(1,650,763.73 wavelengths in vacuum of radiation corresponding to orange
red light of Krypton-86)

th

DEFINITIONS OF BASIC and

SUPPLEMENTARY UNIT
kilogram ( SI unit of mass )
The mass of a cylinder made of platinumiridium alloy kept at International Bureau of
Weights and Measures is defined as 1 kg

DEFINITIONS OF BASIC and

SUPPLEMENTARY UNIT
kelvin ( SI unit of Temperature)
1 K is defined as fraction 1/273.16 of the
thermodynamic temperature of triple
point of water

DEFINITIONS OF BASIC and

SUPPLEMENTARY UNIT
ampere ( SI unit of Electric current)
1 ampere is a constant current that will produce an
attractive force of 2107newtonper metre of
length between two straight, parallel conductors
of infinite length and negligible circularcross
sectionplaced onemetreapart in avacuum

DEFINITIONS OF BASIC and

SUPPLEMENTARY UNIT
mol (SI unit of amount of substance)
Amount of substance that contains as many
elementary entities as there are number of atoms in
0.012 kg of C-12

(Which is equal to 6.023*10 23 ---> Avogadro number)

Elementary entities one word used for electrons,
protons, atoms, molecules etc.

DEFINITIONS OF BASIC and

SUPPLEMENTARY UNIT
candela ( SI unit of Luminous Intensity)
1 candela is luminous intensity in a given direction of a
source that emits monochromatic radiations of frequency
540* 1012 Hz and that has radiant intensity of 1/683 W/str
in that direction.

DEFINITIONS OF BASIC and

SUPPLEMENTARY UNIT
radian (SI unit of plane angle)
1 radian is angle subtended at the centre of a
circle by an arc equal in length to radius of the
circle.

DEFINITIONS OF BASIC and

SUPPLEMENTARY UNIT
steradian ( SI unit of solid angle i.e. angle in space
)
1 steradian is defined as solid angle subtended at the
centre of a sphere, by that surface of the sphere, which is
equal in area, to the square of radius of the sphere.
= surface area / r2

PREFIXES
Physical quantities whose magnitude is either too large
or too small, can be expressed more compactly by using
certain
Power
ofprefixes
Prefi Symbo
Power of Prefix Symbo
10
101

x
deca

l
da

10
101

deci

l
d

102

hecto

102

centi

103

kilo

103

milli

106

mega

106

micro

109

giga

109

nano

1012

tera

1012

pico

1015

peta

1015

femto

1018

exa

1018

atto

Practice Questions

Ques : Write below with values using prefix

1.6* 1012 m = _____________ Pm 0.876 * 10 -5m = ____________mm

3.5*10-7s

= _____________s

480 * 10-11m = ____________nm

Ques : What is difference between Nm, nm and Mm ?

Practical Units
Apart from fundamental and derived units we also use
very frequently practical units

Practical units of length

Practical units of Area
Practical units of Mass
Practical units of Time

Macroscopic
units
Microscopic
units

Used to
measure large
amount of
physical
quantity
Used to
measure very
small amount
of physical
quantity

Practical units of LENGTH

Macroscopic

Astronomical unit
( AU)
Light year (ly)
Parsec ( Parallactic
Second)
Micron

Microscopic Units

Angstrom
Fermi

Practical units of length

Astronomical unit ( AU)
Mean distance between centre of the sun and centre of the earth

Average distance between sun and earth is 1.496

x 1011 m
1 AU = 1.496 x 1011 m

Practical units of length

Light Year (ly)
Distance travelled by a ray of light in 1 year in vacuum
It is equal to 9.46 x 1015 m

Practical units of length

Parsec (parallactic second)
Distance at which arc of length 1 AU subtends angle of 1s of arc

Note
1 of arc = 1/60
1 of arc = (1 of arc ) =

Practical units of length