Dimensionless quantity
In dimensional analysis, a dimensionless quantity or quantity of dimension one is a quantity without an associated physical dimension. It is thus a "pure" number, and as such always has a dimension of 1.[1] Dimensionless quantities are widely used in mathematics, physics, engineering, economics, and in everyday life (such as in counting). Numerous well-known quantities, such as π, e, and φ, are dimensionless. By contrast, non-dimensionless quantities are measured in units of length, area, time, etc.
Dimensionless quantities are often defined as products or ratios of quantities that are not dimensionless, but whose dimensions cancel out when their powers are multiplied. This is the case, for instance, with the engineering strain, a measure of deformation. It is defined as change in length over initial length but, since these quantities both have dimensions L (length), the result is a dimensionless quantity.
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Properties[edit]
| This section does not cite any references or sources. (June 2013) |
- Even though a dimensionless quantity has no physical dimension associated with it, it can still have dimensionless units. To show the quantity being measured (for example mass fraction or mole fraction), it is sometimes helpful to use the same units in both the numerator and denominator (kg/kg or mol/mol). The quantity may also be given as a ratio of two different units that have the same dimension (for instance, light years over meters). This may be the case when calculating slopes in graphs, or when making unit conversions. Such notation does not indicate the presence of physical dimensions, and is purely a notational convention. Other common dimensionless units are % (= 0.01), ‰ (= 0.001), ppm (= 10−6), ppb (= 10−9), ppt (= 10−12) and angle units (degrees, radians, grad). Units of number such as the dozen and the gross are also dimensionless.
- The ratio of two quantities with the same dimensions is dimensionless, and has the same value regardless of the units used to calculate them. For instance, if body A exerts a force of magnitude F on body B, and B exerts a force of magnitude f on A, then the ratio F/f is always equal to 1, regardless of the actual units used to measure F and f. This is a fundamental property of dimensionless proportions and follows from the assumption that the laws of physics are independent of the system of units used in their expression. In this case, if the ratio F/f was not always equal to 1, but changed if we switched from SI to CGS, that would mean that Newton's Third Law's truth or falsity would depend on the system of units used, which would contradict this fundamental hypothesis. This assumption that the laws of physics are not contingent upon a specific unit system is the basis for the Buckingham π theorem. A statement of this theorem is that any physical law can be expressed as an identity involving only dimensionless combinations (ratios or products) of the variables linked by the law (e. g., pressure and volume are linked by Boyle's Law – they are inversely proportional). If the dimensionless combinations' values changed with the systems of units, then the equation would not be an identity, and Buckingham's theorem would not hold.
Buckingham π theorem[edit]
Another consequence of the Buckingham π theorem of dimensional analysis is that the functional dependence between a certain number (say, n) of variables can be reduced by the number (say, k) of independent dimensions occurring in those variables to give a set of p = n − k independent, dimensionless quantities. For the purposes of the experimenter, different systems that share the same description by dimensionless quantity are equivalent.
Example[edit]
The power consumption of a stirrer with a given shape is a function of the density and the viscosity of the fluid to be stirred, the size of the stirrer given by its diameter, and the speed of the stirrer. Therefore, we have n = 5 variables representing our example.
Those n = 5 variables are built up from k = 3 dimensions:
- Length: L (m)
- Time: T (s)
- Mass: M (kg)
According to the π-theorem, the n = 5 variables can be reduced by the k = 3 dimensions to form p = n − k = 5 − 3 = 2 independent dimensionless numbers, which are, in case of the stirrer:
- Reynolds number (a dimensionless number describing the fluid flow regime)
- Power number (describing the stirrer and also involves the density of the fluid)
Standards efforts[edit]
The International Committee for Weights and Measures contemplated defining the unit of 1 as the 'uno', but the idea was dropped.[2][3][4]
Examples[edit]
- Consider this example: Sarah says, "Out of every 10 apples I gather, 1 is rotten." The rotten-to-gathered ratio is (1 apple) / (10 apples) = 0.1 = 10%, which is a dimensionless quantity.
- Plane angles – An angle is measured as the ratio of the length of a circle's arc subtended by an angle whose vertex is the centre of the circle to some other length. The ratio—i.e., length divided by length—is dimensionless. When using radians as the unit, the length that is compared is the length of the radius of the circle. When using degree as the units, the arc's length is compared to 1/360 of the circumference of the circle.
- In the case of the dimensionless quantity π, being the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, the number would be constant regardless of what unit is used to measure a circle's circumference and diameter (e.g., centimetres, miles, light-years, etc.), as long as the same unit is used for both.
List of dimensionless quantities[edit]
All numbers are dimensionless quantities. Certain dimensionless quantities of some importance are given below:
Dimensionless physical constants[edit]
Certain fundamental physical constants, such as the speed of light in a vacuum, the universal gravitational constant, and the constants of Planck and Boltzmann, are normalized to 1 if the units for time, length, mass, charge, and temperature are chosen appropriately. The resulting system of units is known as natural. However, not all physical constants can be eliminated in any system of units; the values of the remaining ones must be determined experimentally. Resulting constants include:
- α, the fine structure constant, the coupling constant for the electromagnetic interaction: α ≈ 1/137;
- μ or β, the proton-to-electron mass ratio, the rest mass of the proton divided by that of the electron. More generally, the rest masses of all elementary particles relative to that of the electron: μ ≈ 1836;
- αs, the coupling constant for the strong force;
- αG, the gravitational coupling constant: αG ≈ 1.75×10−45.
See also[edit]
- Similitude (model)
- Orders of magnitude (numbers)
- Dimensional analysis
- Dimensionless physical constant
- Normalization (statistics) and standardized moment, the analogous concepts in statistics
- Buckingham π theorem
References[edit]
- ^ "1.8 (1.6) quantity of dimension one dimensionless quantity". International vocabulary of metrology — Basic and general concepts and associated terms (VIM). ISO. 2008. Retrieved 2011-03-22.
- ^ "BIPM Consultative Committee for Units (CCU), 15th Meeting" (PDF). 17–18 April 2003. Retrieved 2010-01-22.
- ^ "BIPM Consultative Committee for Units (CCU), 16th Meeting" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-01-22.
- ^ Dybkaer, René (2004). "An ontology on property for physical, chemical, and biological systems". APMIS Suppl. (117): 1–210. PMID 15588029.
- ^ a b c "Table of Dimensionless Numbers" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-11-05.
- ^ Bagnold number
- ^ Paoletti S., Rispoli F., Sciubba E. (1989). "Calculation of exergetic losses in compact heat exchanger passager". ASME AES 10 (2): 21–9.
- ^ Bhattacharjee S., Grosshandler W.L. (1988). "The formation of wall jet near a high temperature wall under microgravity environment". ASME MTD 96: 711–6.
- ^ Bond number
- ^ Courant–Friedrich–Levy number
- ^ Kittel, Charles and Herbert Kroemer (1980). Thermal Physics. New York: W. H. Freeman. p. 1. ISBN 0-7167-1088-9.
- ^ Schetz, Joseph A. (1993). Boundary Layer Analysis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. pp. 132–134. ISBN 0-13-086885-X.
- ^ Fanning friction factor
- ^ Feigenbaum constants
- ^ Fresnel number
- ^ Gain Ratio - Sheldon Brown
- ^ Incropera, Frank P. (2007). Fundamentals of heat and mass transfer. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p. 376.
- ^ Lockhart–Martinelli parameter
- ^ Manning coefficient PDF (109 KB)
- ^ Katz J. I. (2009). "When hot water freezes before cold". Am. J. Phys. 77: 27–29. arXiv:physics/0604224. Bibcode:2009AmJPh..77...27K. doi:10.1119/1.2996187. [1] Mpemba number
- ^ Peel number
- ^ Richardson number
- ^ Schmidt number
- ^ Sommerfeld number
- ^ Strouhal number, Engineering Toolbox
- ^ Weaver flame speed number
- ^ Weissenberg number
- ^ Womersley number
External links[edit]
- John Baez, "How Many Fundamental Constants Are There?"
- Huba, J. D., 2007, NRL Plasma Formulary: Dimensionless Numbers of Fluid Mechanics. Naval Research Laboratory. p. 23, 24, 25
- Sheppard, Mike, 2007, "Systematic Search for Expressions of Dimensionless Constants using the NIST database of Physical Constants."
















































































, the Prandtl number and the Darcy number on flow in a porous medium


