Common Physical Quantities

A physical quantity is a quantity in physics that can be measured, thus a physical property that can be quantified. Examples of physical quantities are mass, amount of substance, length, time, temperature, electric current, light intensity, force, velocity, density ...

Common Physical Quantities

Physical Quantities

Quantity

Unit name

Unit symbol

Amplitude (A)

metre

\(\text{m}\)

Atomic mass unit (amu)

u

\(\text{u}\)

Average acceleration (\(\vec{a}_{\text{av}}\))

metre per second squared

\(\text{m·s$^{-2}$}\)

Average speed (\(v_{\text{av}}\))

metre

\(\text{m}\)

Average velocity (\(\vec{v}_{\text{av}}\))

metre per second

\(\text{m·s$^{-1}$}\)

Charge (Q)

coulomb

\(\text{C}\)

Concentration (C)

mol per decimetre cubed

\(\text{mol·dm$^{-3}$}\)

Current (I)

ampere

\(\text{A}\)

Density (d)

grams per centimetre cubed

\(\text{g·cm$^{-3}$}\)

Displacement (\(\Delta x\))

metre

\(\text{m}\)

Distance (D)

metre

\(\text{m}\)

Energy (E)

Joule

\(\text{J}\)

Frequency (f)

Hertz

\(\text{Hz}\)

Instantaneous acceleration (\(\vec{a}\))

metre per second squared

\(\text{m·s$^{-2}$}\)

Instantaneous speed (\(v_{\text{av}}\))

metre per second

\(\text{m·s$^{-1}$}\)

Instantaneous velocity (\(\vec{v}\))

metre per second

\(\text{m·s$^{-1}$}\)

Intensity (I)

deciBel

\(\text{dB}\)

Magnitude of acceleration (a)

metre per second squared

\(\text{m·s$^{-2}$}\)

Mass (m)

gram

\(\text{g}\)

Molar mass (M)

gram per mol

\(\text{g·mol$^{-1}$}\)

Mole (n)

mole

\(\text{mol}\)

Period (T)

second

\(\text{s}\)

Position (x)

metre

\(\text{m}\)

Potential difference (V)

Volt

\(\text{V}\)

Pulse speed (v)

metre per second

\(\text{m·s$^{-1}$}\)

Resistance (R)

Ohm

\(\text{Ω}\)

Temperature (T)

degrees

\(\text{°}\)

Volume (V)

decimetre cubed

\(\text{dm$^{-3}$}\)

Wavelength (λ)

metre

\(\text{m}\)

Wavespeed (v)

metre per second

\(\text{m·s$^{-1}$}\)

This lesson is part of:

Vectors and Scalars

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