Lesson: Dimensional Analysis Physics • First Year of Secondary School

Students will be able to

• recognize that a quantity can be described in terms of its dimensions,
• recognize that while a quantity can be measured using lots of different units, it always has the same dimensions,
• recall the symbols for four of the basic dimensions: mass , length , time , and current ,
• determine the dimensions of common quantities using their defining formulae:
  • area = ,
  • volume = ,
  • speed = ,
  • acceleration = ,
  • momentum = mass velocity,
  • force = ,
  • charge = current time,
  • frequency = ,
• carry out algebraic manipulations of dimensional expressions,
• understand dimension notation: ,
• determine the dimensions of a quantity given a formula for that quantity and the dimensions of the identifiers in that formula,
• recall what units relate to what dimensions,
• convert between a unit expression and a dimension expression.