Physics Chp 1

Metrics K kilo 103 unit 100 = 1 c centi 10-2 m milli 10-3 μ micro 10-6 n nano 10-9 p pico 10-12

largest prefix gets a 1 and the smaller gets the absolute power difference Ex. Convert 32 cm to Km. 32 cm x ( 1 Km / 105 cm) = 3.2 x 10-4 Km

Precision vs Accuracy   Precision is how close are the measurements/calc to eachother. Accuracy is how close the answer is to the accepted value Target idea

Significant Figures Ex. 20.5, 0.076, 100, 15.3 Math - multi and divide, least sig. figs. 41 x 0.03 = 210 / 5.01 = add and subtract- least dec. pts. 62 – 5.5 = 7.53 + 0.2 =

Scientific Notation A way to write really large or small numbers 150000 = 1.5 x 105 0.000043 = 4.3 x 10-5 Only the sig. figs. are used in sci. notation Be careful when adding/subtracting, make sure powers are equal