Physical Quantities and Their Nature

Physical Quantities

• Physical quantities are numbers used to describe a physical phenomenon quantitatively.

  • Examples: mass, time, length, speed, force

Nature of Physical Quantities

• Physical quantities can be either:

  • Fundamental

  • Derived

Fundamental Quantities

• Quantities that exist by themselves.

  • Examples: mass, time, length, temperature

Derived Quantities

• Quantities that are dependent on other quantities.

  • Examples:

    • Area: dependent on length.

    • Speed: dependent on time and length.

    • Density: dependent on mass and volume.