It is no secret to anyone that there are special notations for quantities in any science. The letter designations in physics prove that this science is no exception in terms of identifying quantities using special characters. The basic quantities, as well as their derivatives, are many, each of which has its own symbol. So, letter designations in physics are considered in detail in this article.
Physics and basic physical quantities
Thanks to Aristotle, the word physics began to be used, since it was he who first used this term, which at that time was considered a synonym for the term philosophy. This is due to the commonality of the object of study - the laws of the Universe, more specifically - how it functions. As you know, in the XVI-XVII centuries the first scientific revolution took place, it was thanks to it that physics was singled out as an independent science.
Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov introduced the word physics into Russian by publishing a textbook translated from German — Russia's first physics textbook.
So, physics is a section of natural science devoted to the study of the general laws of nature, as well as matter, its motion and structure. There are not so many basic physical quantities as it might seem at first glance - there are only 7 of them:
- length,
- weight,
- time,
- current strength
- temperature,
- amount of substance
- the power of light.
Of course, they have their own letter designations in physics. For example, the symbol m is selected for mass, and T. is selected for temperature. Also, all quantities have their own unit of measurement: luminous intensity has a candela (cd), and the quantity of a substance has a unit of measurement in mole.
Derived physical quantities
Derivatives of physical quantities are much greater than basic ones. There are 26 of them, and often some of them are attributed to the main ones.
So, the area is a derivative of the length, the volume is also the length, the speed is the time, the length, and the acceleration, in turn, characterizes the speed of the speed change. Momentum is expressed in terms of mass and speed, force is the product of mass and acceleration, mechanical work depends on force and length, energy is proportional to mass. Power, pressure, density, surface density, linear density, amount of heat, voltage, electrical resistance, magnetic flux, moment of inertia, angular momentum, angular momentum - they all depend on the mass. Frequency, angular velocity, angular acceleration are inversely proportional to time, and the electric charge is directly dependent on time. Angle and solid angle are derived from length.
What letter denotes stress in physics? The voltage, which is a scalar quantity, is denoted by the letter U. For speed, the designation is in the form of the letter v, for mechanical work - A, and for the energy - E. The electric charge is usually denoted by the letter q, and the magnetic flux is F.
SI: general information
The international system of units (SI) is a system of physical units, which is based on the International system of quantities, including the names and designations of physical quantities. It was adopted by the General Conference on Weights and Measures. It is this system that regulates the letter designations in physics, as well as their dimension and units. For designation, the letters of the Latin alphabet are used, in some cases - the Greek one. It is also possible to use special characters as a symbol.
Conclusion
So, in any scientific discipline there are special designations for various kinds of quantities. Naturally, physics is no exception. There are a lot of letter designations: force, area, mass, acceleration, tension, etc. They have their own designations. There is a special system called the International System of Units. It is believed that basic units cannot be mathematically derived from others. Derived quantities are obtained by multiplying and dividing from the main ones.