Objectives

Students will:

(1.) Discuss Dimensional Analysis.
(2.) Discuss Fundamental Quantities.
(3.) Discuss Derived Quantities.
(4.) Discuss the International Metric System (SI) of units for measured quantities.
(5.) Discuss the United States Customary System of units for measured quantities.
(6.) Convert between units for linear measures.
(7.) Convert among units for linear measures.
(8.) Convert between units for quadratic measures/area measures.
(9.) Convert among units for quadratic measures/area measures.
(10.) Convert between units for cubic measures/volume measures.
(11.) Convert among units for cubic measures/volume measures.
(12.) Convert between International Metric System of units and United States Customary System of units.
(13.) Perform arithmetic operations of quantities in the International Metric System.
(14.) Perform arithmetic operations of quantities in the United States Customary System.
(15.) Solve applied problems on Measurements and Units.
(16.) Complete a student project on Measurements and Units.

Skills Measured/Acquired
(1.) Use of prior knowledge
(2.) Critical Thinking
(3.) Interdisciplinary connections/applications
(4.) Technology
(5.) Active participation through direct questioning
(6.) Research

Introduction

Measurement is the process of defining physical quantities using numbers.
A physical quantity is a physical property of a substance that can be expressed as a number.
Every measurement has a unit.
A unit of measurement is an approved standard for measurement of the same kind of physical quantity.
It describes what is being measured or counted.
Units can help to check the answers and solve problems. For example:
Consider a box with the side lengths in inches.
The volume of the box would be calculated in cubic inches.
The key word​ cube or cubic in this context means that the unit inches is raised to the third power.
The mathematical symbol to represent the unit of the volume of the box is in³.

A system of measurement is a collection of units of measurement and rules relating them to one another.
There are several systems of measurements. However, the three main ones are:
(1.) The International System of Units (Système International) which is also referred to as the Metric System.
(2.) The United States System also referred to as the Customary System.
(3.) The British Imperial System.
For this class, we shall focus on the Metric System and the Customary System.

Physical quantities and units can be classified as:
(1.) Fundamental Quantities and Fundamental Units.
(2.) Derived Quantities and Derived Units.

A fundamental quantity is a basic independent physical quantity that is not defined in terms of another quantity.
A fundamental unit is a basic independent unit that is not defined in terms of another unit.
It is the unit of a fundamental quantity.

A derived quantity is a physical quantity that is defined in terms of some fundamental quantity.
A derived unit is the unit that is derived from fundamental units.
(Give several examples)

Standardized units are units that have the same meaning for everyone who uses them.
When using standardized​ units, people can communicate measurements and know that they mean the same thing to both people.

Energy is what makes matter move or heat up.
The units of energy include:
(i.) ​Joule; the international metric unit for energy
(ii.) Kilowatt-hour; used to measure electrical energy for utility bills.
(iii.) ​Calorie; used to measure the energy the human body can draw from food.

Power is the rate at which energy is used.
The international metric unit of power is the​ watt, defined as 1 Watt = 1 Joule per second.

Density is used to describe compactness or crowding.
Common units for density are gram per cubic centimeters (g/cm³​), people per square miles (people/mi²)​, and gigabytes per square inch (GB / inch²).

Concentration is used to describe the amount of one substance that is mixed with another.
Common units for concentration are parts per million (ppm) and milliliters per milligrams (mL/mg).