1 / 9

Dimensional Analysis Made Easy

Dimensional Analysis Made Easy. DESN 100. Christine Griffith Spring 2009. So what is dimensional analysis?. Dimensional analysis is the process used by scientists, mathematicians, engineers to change from one unit of measure to another. An example problem.

gianna
Download Presentation

Dimensional Analysis Made Easy

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Dimensional Analysis Made Easy DESN 100 Christine Griffith Spring 2009

  2. So what is dimensional analysis? • Dimensional analysis is the process used by scientists, mathematicians, engineers to change from one unit of measure to another

  3. An example problem • Convert 60 mph into feet per second Notice that the original units of miles per hour are multiplied by fractions that are equal to 1. 1 hour = 60 minutes 5280ft=1mile 1 minute = 60 seconds

  4. Cancelling on the diagonal Hour on top cancels with hour on the bottom Minute on top cancels with minute on the bottom Miles on top cancels with mile on the bottom

  5. Finish the problem… Now notice that the cancelled units turned into 1’s The 60’s also cancel

  6. Procedure summary • Write the original number with dimensions as a fraction. Example: 60 miles/hour • Multiply by fractions with equivalent units in the top and bottom of the fraction. Example: 1 hour/60 minutes. • Make sure the units cancel top and bottom until you are left with the units you want

  7. Another problem to practice • Convert 100 ft/s² to mm/s²

  8. A last “tricky” problem • Sometimes the units we need to change are raised to a power… • Example: Convert 10 psi (1b/in²) into N/mm² • N stands for Newtons, the unit of force in SI units

  9. Recall: (a/b)²=a/b * a/b

More Related