BRAINCAKEScalar Quantities.
A scalar quantity has magnitude (size) only and no direction. Examples include distance, speed, mass, time, volume, density, energy and temperature.
Scalars are added using ordinary arithmetic. A mass of 2 kg added to a mass of 3 kg always gives 5 kg, whichever way the masses are arranged.
Many scalar quantities come in pairs with a vector. Distance is a scalar, but displacement, which is distance in a particular direction, is a vector. Speed is a scalar, but velocity is a vector.
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Key terms in this lesson
- density
- The mass per unit volume of a substance.
More in Quantities and Units
- Physical Quantities.
- SI Base Units.
- Prefixes.
- Derived Quantities and Units.
- Vector Quantities.
- Adding Perpendicular Vectors.
- Resolving Vectors into two Components.
- Adding Non-Perpendicular Vectors
All 10 lessons in Quantities and Units · All OCR AS-level Physics topics