Units and Dimensional Analysis

Units and Dimensional Analysis covers a basic but often-overlooked technique that everyone should use. Dimensional analysis helps in two ways: 1) It's a very simple way to check your work for mistakes. If all the units match, it's likely that your answer is right. 2) It's a good way to digest formulas that others give you, such as those in a textbook.

The second part of the video, on natural units, might be confusing. If it's confusing, please feel free to forget about it. We use natural units when doing calculations in special relativity and quantum mechanics mainly because they make the formulas much neater and easier to read. The point I was trying to get across in the video is that units are a man-made invention, and dimensionful constants can change their values depending on what units we use. The most "natural" system of units is one in which these constants are all numerically equal to 1.

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Category:

Education

Tags:

• physics
• introduction
• units
• dimensional
• analysis
• quantum
• mechanics
• special
• relativity
• lhc
• lecture

[m3canada37]

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[Dickmondoe]

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[TempeteCoeur]

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[sushijay]

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