1. Topic 1: Physical Measurements
Practice Questions

2. Practice Questions
Convert the following into metres (m) and write in standard form:
Distance from London to New York = 5585 km
Height of Einstein was 175 cm
Thickness of a human hair = 25.4 μm
Distance to the edge of the universe = 100,000 million million million km
a) x 106 m
c) 2.54 x 10-5 m
b) 1.75 m
d) 1026 m

3. Practice Questions
Convert the following times into seconds (s) and write in standard form:
85 years, how long Newton lived
2.5 ms, the time taken for a mosquito’s wing to go up and down
4 days, the time it took to travel to the moon
2 hours, 52 min 59 s, the time time for the Concord to fly from London to New York
a) 2.69 x 109 s
c) 3.46 x 105 s
b) 2.5 x 10-3 s
d) x 104 s

4. Practice Questions
Convert the following masses to kilograms (kg) and write in the standard form:
The mass of an apple = 200 g
The mass of a grain of sand = g
The mass of a family car = 2 tonnes
a) 0.2 kg
b) 1 x 10-8 kg
c) 2 x 103 kg

5. Practice Questions 4) 150 m3 5) 1.0 x 10-10 m3 6) 1.09 x 1021 m3
Calculate the volume of a room of length 5 m, width 10 m and height 3m.
What is the volume of a human hair with length 20 cm?
Calculate the volume of the Earth (radius = x 106 m).
4) 150 m3
5) 1.0 x m3
6) 1.09 x 1021 m3

6. Practice Questions 7) 180 kg 8) 86.85 kg 9) 5.48 x 103 kg m-3
Calculate the mass of the air in the previous room. The density of air is 1.2 kg m-3.
Calculate the mass of a gold bar of length 30 cm, width 15 cm, height 10 cm and density 1.93 x 104 kg m-3.
The Earth has a mass of 5.97 x 1024 kg, calculate its average density.
7) 180 kg
8) kg
9) 5.48 x 103 kg m-3

7. Practice Questions a) 0.5 % c) 158.36 cm2 b) 0.3 % d) 0.8 %
To determine the area of an object, two lengths l1 and l2 are measured.
l1 = / cm
l2 = /-0.05 cm.
Calculate:
the % uncertainty in l1
the % uncertainty in l2
the area of the object
the % uncertainty in the area
a) 0.5 %
c) cm2
b) 0.3 %
d) 0.8 %

8. Practice Questions 11) 8.94 km, 26.6° 14) 7.52 km 13) 8.66 km
A boat travels 4 km west followed by 8 km north. What is the resultant displacement?
A plane flies 100 km north then changes course to fly 50 km east. What is the resultant displacement?
If a boat travels 10 km in a direction 30° east of north, how far north has it traveled?
On his way to the South Pole , Amundsen traveled 8 km in a direction that was 20° west if south. What was his displacement south?
A mountaineer climbs 500 m up a slope that is inclined at an angle 60° to the horizontal. How high has he climbed?
11) 8.94 km, 26.6°
14) 7.52 km
13) 8.66 km
12) 112 km, 26.6°
15) 433 km

9. Practice Questions a) half area of graph paper used;
axes labels and units included;
scale;
data points;
b) absolute uncertainty in Q at 10.0 V = +/- 3nC;
absolute uncertainty in Q at 50.0 V = +/- 18nC;
correct placing on graph;
c) from top of error bar at (50,180) to bottom of error bar (10,30);
Use of at least half of the line or algebraic indication;
value = 4.3 or 4.3 x 10-9;
e) recognize that m = ε°A / d;
therefore ε° = dm / A;
(0.51 x 10-3)(4.3 x 10-9) / 0.15;
1.5 x CV-1m-1;
d) CV-1

10. Practice Questions
2) C
3) A
4) C
5) C

11. Practice Questions
6) C
7) D
8) B
9) C