Questions tagged [si-units]
A set of internationally accepted units to aid in communication of measurements.
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questions
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What unit system is used in Feynman's Lectures on Physics, Pt. 2
In part II, lecture 18, of Feynman's Lectures on Physics, on Table 18-1 Feynman writes Ampère's law as
$$
c^2 \nabla \times \vec{B} = \frac{\vec{j}}{\epsilon_0} + \frac{\partial \vec{E}}{\partial t}.
$...
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4answers
204 views
Why is there no constant factor in the equation $E=mc^2$?
As I understand, the metric system starts with an arbitrary weight, and calls it $1\, \mathrm{kg}$, then the volume of this weight in water gives the meter. And then the energy is defined based on the ...
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2answers
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Why is the ångström not a metric unit? And why is the ångström spelt with the Scandinavian letters “å” and “ö”?
The website here http://unitsofmeasure.org/ucum.html tells us whether every unit is metric or not. Metric units can be multipled by a power of 10 and can be combined with a prefix. 1 ångström is ...
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2answers
93 views
Addition of Temperature Units [duplicate]
I would like to know how does the addition of temperatures works. In school, we have been taught that we should convert degrees Celsius to Kelvin unit first and then the sum will be converted back to ...
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0answers
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Conversion formula between attenuation coefficient (cm^-1) and (dBcm^-1MHz^-1)
So, I was presented in class the fact that (at least in Ultrasound), attenuation coefficients $\mu$ can be expressed in units $\text{dBcm}^{-1}\text{MHz}^{-1}$ as opposed to the form I was used to; ...
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1answer
26 views
Electrostatics, measurement of charge
How did physicists come up with a standard for measuring charge? How an electrical measurement of charge was made?
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11 views
Planck's Constant to the Kibble Balance
A tad confused on how the Kibble balance actually relates to the Planck Constant. There's most likely a very simple relationship that I'm missing (I feel this is a stupid question ..)
If the Kibble ...
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1answer
31 views
How is the Time Derivative of the the Electric Field Equal to the Current Density in Gaussian Units?
The microscopic form of Ampere's law with the Maxwell addition in Gaussian units states,
\begin{equation}
\nabla \times \vec{B} = \frac{1}{c} \left ( 4 \pi \vec{J} + \frac{\partial \vec{E}}{\partial ...
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1answer
103 views
Why $1 \ \mathrm{fm}$ is often used in modern physics?
In the International System, we all know that a one femto (or one Fermi) is equal to
$$1 \ \mathrm{fm}=10^{-15} \ \mathrm{m}$$
What is the historical reason why this unit of measure was adopted as ...
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74 views
Is there a notation alternative to Hertz?
Hertz, as we all know, is a unit of frequency where 1 Hz equals one cycle per second. Conversely ...
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1answer
39 views
Basic question about units of velocity and speed of a curve on a smooth manifold
Frederic Schuller says that velocity has units in Hertz in The WE-Heraeus International Winter School on Gravity and Light. He says:
\begin{align}
[v^a]&=\frac 1 T \\
[g_{ab}]&=L^2 \\
\Big[\...
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9 views
Which luminous efficacy function does BIPM reference?
The definition of candela given by BIPM is as follows:
The candela, symbol cd, is the SI unit of luminous intensity in a given direction. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the ...
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6answers
52 views
Standard Definition of speed of light and metre
The speed of light is the speed at which lightwaves propagate through different materials. In particular, the value for the speed of light in a vacuum is now defined as exactly 299,792,458 metres per ...
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3answers
68 views
Unit of Pressure - $\frac{N}{m^2}$ or $\frac{kg}{cm^2}$
I am came across Pressure being given with unit $\frac{kg}{m^2}$ at a lot of technical papers I am reading.
However, as far as I understand, Pressure is defined as $\frac{N}{m^2}$ which is not same ...
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1answer
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How is do you say the “standard acceleration of gravity, $g=9.80 m/s^2$” in words? [closed]
How is do you say 9.80 m/s^2 in words? (I Don't get if only "the second" is squared or the whole thing is squared or just the m/s is squared)
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1answer
80 views
Why is a Coulomb the charge of $6.24 \times 10^{18}$ electrons? [duplicate]
Where does the $6.24 \times 10^{18}$ number come from? How was it historically derived?
I know that $1$ C $=$ $1$ A s but that just pushes the question down another step, and another and another, at ...
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1answer
106 views
Confusion on the cgs, Heavside-Lorentz and SI system
I am very confused about three measuring systems: cgs, Heavside-Lorentz (never used) and SI ...
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2answers
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Unit confusion - How Pressure and Volume combines to Joule
Imagine some helium in a cylinder with an initial volume of $1$ liter
ant initial pressure of $1$ atm. Somehow the helium is made to expand
to a final volume of $3$ liters, in such a way that its ...
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1answer
36 views
Differences charge quantity and electric charge
First of all,my english is not well,so sorry for reading.
As a senior middle school from China mainland,I am teaching physics about electri field.I with my workmates,get a problem now.We can not get a ...
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1answer
60 views
Is there a library of physical units?
There are some standard units we all understand intuitively such as:
Mass (kg)
Length (metres)
Time (seconds)
From these there are some familiar composite units which are also well understood:
...
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Please check my problem about SI prefixes [closed]
2.2 A single logic gate in a prototype integrated circuit is found to be
capable of switching from the “on” state to the “off” state in 12 ps. This
corresponds to: (a) 1.2 ns; (b) 120 ns; (c) 1200 ns; ...
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5answers
106 views
Units of variable acceleration
If we have a function, which describes, how a displacement in space along a line varies as a function of time: e.g.: $s(t)=vt$, its units are meters because $[v]=\frac{\text{meters}}{\text{seconds}}$ ...
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1answer
60 views
What's the preferred way of writing units per unit? [closed]
Why do we write units such as meters per second as $\mathrm{m\,s} ^{-1}$ instead of $\mathrm{m/s} $. Is the latter still a valid way of expressing units? Why are there two different ways of expressing ...
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1answer
107 views
Gauss' law for two point charges and a factor of $4\pi$
When we model electric field as something that represents the "flow" of something that is conserved, we can prove that the flux due to a single point charge, through the following surface,
Flux ...
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2answers
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Is our physics and system of units based on time (second) or the speed of light?
The speed of light in vacuum is stated in our physics as a universal physical constant, c, when measured locally, in vacuum.
The speed of light in vacuum, commonly denoted c, is a universal ...
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25 views
Units and measurement
I read on the characteristics of units
(i) It should be easily understandable.
(ii) It should be changed with change in physical factors.
(iii) It should not change with place or time.
I want ...
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1answer
32 views
What is the unit of the current in a square barrier model?
In Quantum Mechanics textbooks, the equation for a electron tunneling through a barrier is
$$-\frac{\hbar ^{2}}{2m}\frac{d^{2}}{dx^{2}}\psi \left( x\right) +U\psi \left(x\right) =E\psi \left( x\right)...
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1answer
64 views
Why does one Coulomb equal that strange number? [duplicate]
Why is one Coulomb equal to 6.24 *10^18 ?
This number is weird . why wasn't it a nice number like 10^20.
I have some guesses about this.
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3answers
188 views
How can I explain what a kilogram is using Planck's constant? [duplicate]
I want to understand what 1 kg represents. For example: I know that 1 second is equal to $9\ 192\ 631\ 770$ transitions from the microwave radiation that a cesium-133 atom (at $0$K) emits, if it's ...
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75 views
Energy Density is expressed in Liters, Liters of What?
When looking at energy density of batteries it is often expressed as Wh/L. For instance, Wikipedia says Lithium Ion batteries have a density of 250–693 W·h/L. Liters is supposed to express the volume ...
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New S.I. and the second definition standard
The new SI defines the second as the hyperfine splitting transition time associated to the frequency of that transition of caesium-133, 9192631770 Hz, that is 12 decimals precision, but...I wonder two ...
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1answer
90 views
Why $µ_0$ and $ε_0$ are not considered to be $4π$ and $1/4π$? [closed]
I did some algebra...
In Planck unit, if make $\mu_0 = 4\pi$ and $\epsilon_0 = \frac{1}{4\pi}$ you get:
$$\mu_0 = 4\pi \cdot \frac{m_p l_p}{t_p^2 I_p^2} = 1.2566368452237765 \cdot 10^{-6} N \cdot A^...
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2answers
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Why is the length of the Kelvin unit of temperature equal to that of the Celsius unit? [duplicate]
The Celsius unit is arbitrarily defined, based on the boiling and freezing point of water. Is it a coincidence, then, that the SI unit of temperature Kelvin, which is used in all natural equations, ...
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4answers
2k views
The significance of kelvin as a unit of absolute temperature
$$PV=nRT$$
Where $P$ is pressure in pascals ($\text{Pa}$)
$V$ is volume in cubic metres ($\text{m}^3$)
$n$ is amount of substance in moles ($\text{mol}$)
$R$ is the gas constant having units, joules ...
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3answers
243 views
Why are there $1 / 1.602176634 \times 10^{-19}$ electrons in a coulomb?
Why that exact number of electrons in one coulomb? who decided it? there is nothing wrong with the number, it just seems slightly messy. Why didn't the scientific community just settle on an easier ...
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Units of the Klein-Gordon Propagator in SI Units
What are the SI units of the momentum-space propagator of the Klein-Gordon equation for a free particle?
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1answer
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Why is angles given at the end of fundamental units? [closed]
In my study material, there is a chart of the fundamental units. In that solid angle and angle are separated by a line from the other fundamental units. What is the reason for that?
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5answers
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Watts vs. volts amperes
What I understand:
In simple DC circuits, this is a product of the current and voltage, such that 1 watt = 1 ampere x 1 volt
I understand that a watt is a unit of power (change in energy per unit ...
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Does the New SI spoil the nice Coulomb law in Gaussian units?
Now, after the redefinition of SI, the elementary charge $e$ and the reduced Planck constant $\hbar$ (and also $k_B$) are exact quantities in the SI units, as is the velocity of light $c$. The ...
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SI redefinition of the kilogram - what is one measuring? [duplicate]
I have been reading about the new SI units and specifically, want to get a better understanding of the definition of a kilogram. It was written that the kilogram will be defined in terms of Planck's ...
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3answers
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Will the volt, ampere, ohm or other electrical units change on May 20th, 2019? [duplicate]
When watching a video by Veritasium about the SI units redefinition (5:29), a claim that the volt and unit of resistance (presumably the ohm) will change by about 1 part in 10 million caught my ...
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Redefinition of everything on May 20th, 2019 [closed]
A couple of issues:
So after May 20th, 2019, what exactly will be the defined value of $\hbar$?
What will be the defined number of elementary charges in a Coulomb?
Then $\mu_0$ and $\epsilon_0$ will ...
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3answers
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How to find the corrsponding expression after working with natural units $\hbar=c=1$?
If one does long calculations in natural units how does one find the right expression in let's say SI units in the end?
I know that natural units make the calculations easier and also help to show ...
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2answers
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Why have a conversion factor of $10 \:\rm mA / 10 \: mV$ instead of $1\:\rm A/1\:V$?
I’m working with a device that measures current by measuring voltage and then giving current with a conversion factor of $10 \:\rm mA / 10 \:mV$. Why write this instead of $1\:\rm A/1\:V$?
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In the SHM equation $F= -kx$, $k =mw^2$ why not use $mf^2$ where $f$ is frequency $w$ here comes out to be $1/s$ not $\text{rad}/s$?
The reason I am stating this is because on calculating the units of w(omega) I found is equal to s^-1 not regular the rad/s.
Proof:
...
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2answers
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Has the kilogram changed?
In late 2018 the kilogram's definition switched from a physical object (the International Prototype Kilogram) to Planck's Constant; a grand move in my opinion.
However, I haven't heard of the ...
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Grasping systems of units
Perhaps it's that I've grown up with the SI system of units, but there's something about other unit systems that doesn't sit well with me. For example, Coulomb's law in Gaussian units can be written ...
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After the redefinition of the units of fundamental physical quantities in 2019, will an uncertainty incur in the Universal constants values?
I am specifically interested in the following constants because being a student these are some of the most common constants that I face:
$R$ (universal gas constant)
Stefan constant
Permeability of ...
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4answers
301 views
How does natural unit make sense? [duplicate]
Both the fundamental constants $\hbar$ and $c$ have dimensions. In particular, $[\hbar]=ML^2T^{-1}$ and $[c]=LT^{-1}$. But in natural units, we make them dimensionless constants of equal magnitude. ...
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About the dimension of the SI units vector space
We know that the set of fundamental and derived physical units can be structured as a vector space over the rational numbers. In the International System of Units the dimension of this space is $7$ ( ...
