Sunday, 24 April 2016

dimensional analysis - Confusion With How Dimensions Work



Form what I understand if you have an equation such as:


$$v = v_0 + at$$


then the dimensions must match on both sides i.e. $L/T = L/T$ (which is true in this case), but I have seen equations such as 'position as a function of time' $x(t) = 1 + t^2$, and obviously time is in $T$, but apparently the function gives you position which is $L$... so what happens to $T$ and where does the $L$ come from? I thought dimensions must always match...


Also, let us say that you know the time to reach a destination is proportional to distance i.e. double the distance and you get double the time, now this makes sense to me, but as I said earlier I thought that dimensions must always be consistent or else you can not make comparisons in physics, so if you are giving me $L$ (the distance), how can that become $T$ (time) all of a sudden?



Answer



Units must always be consistent, that is correct. So using your example of:


$$ x(t) = 1 + t^2 $$


where the left hand side has units of $L$ (distance). This means the constant $1$ on the right side has implied units of $L$ while the coefficient in front of $t^2$ (which has the value of $1$) has implied units of $L/T^2$.


In other words, the units do match but they get attached to the constants multiplying each term.


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