Physics 1 · Reference

Units and constants

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  1. The college version
  2. Study tools

The college version

SI Base Units

QuantityUnitSymbol
Lengthmeterm
Masskilogramkg
Timeseconds
Electric currentampereA
TemperaturekelvinK
Amount of substancemolemol

Common Derived Units

QuantityUnitSymbolEquivalent
ForcenewtonNkg·m/s²
Energy, work, heatjouleJN·m
PowerwattWJ/s
PressurepascalPaN/m²
Electric chargecoulombCA·s
Voltage, potentialvoltVJ/C
ResistanceohmΩV/A
CapacitancefaradFC/V
Magnetic fieldteslaTN/(A·m)
Magnetic fluxweberWbT·m²
InductancehenryHV·s/A
FrequencyhertzHzs⁻¹

Important Constants

ConstantSymbolValueNotes
Speed of light in vacuumc2.998 × 108 m/sExact defined value: 299,792,458 m/s
Elementary chargee1.602 × 10-19 CApproximate
Gravitational acceleration (Earth surface)g9.80 m/s2Approximate; varies slightly with location
Gravitational constantG6.674 × 10-11 N·m2/kg2Experimentally determined
Coulomb's constantk8.988 × 109 N·m2/C2k = 1/(4πε0)
Permittivity of free spaceε08.854 × 10-12 C2/(N·m2)Exact defined
Permeability of free spaceμ04π × 10-7 T·m/AExact defined
Planck's constanth6.626 × 10-34 J·sExperimentally determined
Boltzmann constantkB1.381 × 10-23 J/KApproximate
Universal gas constantR8.314 J/(mol·K)R = NA kB
Avogadro's numberNA6.022 × 1023 mol-1Approximate
Electron massme9.109 × 10-31 kgApproximate
Proton massmp1.673 × 10-27 kgApproximate
Standard atmospheric pressurePatm1.013 × 105 PaAt sea level

Temperature Conversions

[ T_K = T_C + 273.15 ] [ T_F = \frac{9}{5}T_C + 32 ]

Useful Prefixes

PrefixSymbolFactor
teraT1012
gigaG109
megaM106
kilok103
centic10-2
millim10-3
microμ10-6
nanon10-9
picop10-12
femtof10-15

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