1.1 Physical Quantities and SI Units

This section covers the following syllabus (Physics 5059) requirements.

• show understanding that all physical quantities consist of a numerical magnitude and a unit

• recall the following base quantities and their units: mass (kg), length (m), time (s), current (A), temperature (K), amount of substance (mol)

• use the following prefixes and their symbols to indicate decimal sub-multiples and multiples of the SI units: nano (n), micro (μ), milli (m), centi (c), deci (d), kilo (k), mega (M), giga(G)

• show an understanding of the orders of magnitude of the sizes of common objects ranging from a typical atom to the Earth

• state what is meant by scalar and vector quantities and give common examples of each