Definition of A Physical Quantity
Formally, the International Vocabulary of Metrology, 3rd edition (VIM3) defines quantity as:
Property of a phenomenon, body, or substance, where the property has a magnitude that can be expressed as a number and a reference.Hence the value of a physical quantity q is expressed as the product of a numerical value Nq and a unit of measurement uq;
Quantity calculus describes how to perform mathematical manipulations of quantities.
Examples
- If the temperature T of a body is quantified as 300 kelvin (in which T is the quantity symbol, 300 the value, and K is the unit), this is written
- T = 300 × K = 300 K,
- If a person weighs 120 pounds, then "120" is the numerical value and "pound" is the unit. This physical quantity mass would be written as "120 lb", or
- m = 120 lb
- If a person traveling with a yardstick, measures the length of such yardstick, the physical quantity of length would be written as
- L = 36 inches
- An example employing SI units and scientific notation for the number, might be a measurement of power written as
- P = 42.3 × 103 W,
In practice, note that different observers may get different values of a quantity depending on the frame of reference; in turn the coordinate system and metric. Physical properties such as length, mass or time, by themselves, are not physically invariant. However, the laws of physics which include these properties are invariant.
Read more about this topic: Physical Quantity
Famous quotes containing the words definition of, definition, physical and/or quantity:
“Perhaps the best definition of progress would be the continuing efforts of men and women to narrow the gap between the convenience of the powers that be and the unwritten charter.”
—Nadine Gordimer (b. 1923)
“The definition of good prose is proper words in their proper places; of good verse, the most proper words in their proper places. The propriety is in either case relative. The words in prose ought to express the intended meaning, and no more; if they attract attention to themselves, it is, in general, a fault.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)
“The term preschooler signals another change in our expectations of children. While toddler refers to physical development, preschooler refers to a social and intellectual activity: going to school. That shift in emphasis is tremendously important, for it is at this age that we think of children as social creatures who can begin to solve problems.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
“The Great Society is a place where every child can find knowledge to enrich his mind and to enlarge his talents.... It is a place where the city of man serves not only the needs of the body and the demands of commerce but the desire for beauty and the hunger for community.... It is a place where men are more concerned with the quality of their goals than the quantity of their goods.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)