PCE Lecture 1 1 UnitsAndDimensions

UCH 1201 Principles of Chemical Engineering
Units and Dimensions
Dr. M. Subramanian
Department of Chemical Engineering

SSN College of Engineering
May 17, 2021

Contents
Units and Dimensions - Conversion factors.

Objectives
I To give an overview of common dimensions and units.

I To understand and digest the common unit-conversion factors.
Outcome
I To convert from one system of unit to another for the most

common dimensions used in chemical engineering.
Introduction
A dimension is a measure of a physical variable (without numerical

values), while a unit is a way to assign a number or measurement
to that dimension. For example, length is a dimension, but it is
measured in units of feet (ft) or meters (m).
Dimension: A physical entity that can be measured (e.g.:

distance)
Unit: Quantitative magnitude of a dimension (e.g.: m)
Unit Systems
The common unit systems in use today:

I International System of Units (SI units, from Le Systeme
International d’Unites, more commonly simply called metric
units)
I English Engineering System of Units (commonly called English
units)
Primary Dimension and Units
Primary (sometimes called basic) dimensions are defined as
independent or fundamental dimensions, from which other
dimensions can be obtained.
The primary dimensions are: mass, length, time, temperature,

amount of matter, electric current, and amount of light. For our
chemical engineering analyses, only the first five of these are
required.
Primary Symbol SI Unit English Unit
Dimension
Mass m (sometimes M) kg (kilogram) lb (pound)
Length L m (meter) ft (foot)
Time t s (second) s
Temperature T (sometimes θ) K (Kelvin) R (Rankine)
Amount of n mol (mole) mol
matter
Secondary Dimension and Units
Secondary dimensions are derived from the combination of primary
dimensions.
Secondary Symbol SI Unit English Unit
Dimension
Velocity v m/s ft/s
Acceleration a m/s2 ft/s2
Volume V m3 ft3
Force F (= ma) N (Newton) lbf (pound-force)
Pressure P (= F /A) N/m 2 lbf /in2 (psi)
Energy, E (= Fd) J (Joule = N.m) ft.lbf
Work
Power P W (= J/s) ft.lbf /s
Note that there are many other units, both SI and English, in use
today. For example, power is often expressed in units of
horsepower, in addition to the standard units of watt. There are
conversion factors to enable conversion from any of these units to
any other.
Conversion Factors
Length:
1 ft (feet) = 12 in (inch) = 0.3048 m
1 in = 2.54 cm
1 mile = 1.61 km
Area:
1 ft2 = 1 × (0.3048 m)2 = 0.0929 m2
1 hectare = 100 m × 100 m = 10,000 m2
1 acre = 66 ft × 660 ft = 43560 ft2 = 0.4047 hectare
(66 ft = 1 chain; 660 ft = 1 furlong)
Cents and acres are SI units of measurement of land. 1 acre is
equal to 100 cents.
Volume:
1 m3 = 1000 litre
1 litre = 1000 cm3 (cc; cubic centimeters) = 1000 milli litre (mL)
1 mL = 1 cm3
Conversion Factors (contd..)
Temperature:
◦ F= (◦ C×9/5) + 32
1 ◦ C rise = 1.8 ◦ F rise

−40◦ C = −40◦ F
Human body temperature: 98.4◦ F= 36.9◦ C.
K (Kelvin) = 273 + ◦ C
R (Rankine) = 460 + ◦ F
Kelvin and Rankine are absolute temperature scales. i.e., there is
no negative K or R values.
Force:
1 kg.m/s2 = 1 N
1 kgf = 1 kg × 9.812 m/s2 = 9.812 kg.m/s2 = 9.812 N
1 lbf = 0.454 kg × 9.812 m/s2 = 4.45 kg.m/s2 = 4.45 N
Conversion Factors (contd..)
Energy:
1 cal = 4.184 J
About 2500 kcal/day ( 10 MJ/day) is the per capita food energy

requirement of a human-being.
Power:
J/s = W
1 hp (horse power) = 746 W
Typical wind turbine’s power rating is 1 MW. The power rating of
typical thermal power plant is 1000 MW.
1 ton of refrigeration = 50 kcal/min.

Pressure:
N/m2 = Pa (Pascal)
1 atm = 1.01325 × 105 N/m2 = 1.01325 bar = 760 mm Hg
Metric Prefixes
The following table lists most of the SI prefixes and their values as
powers of 10. In the table the abbreviations for the prefix is in bold
type and the abbreviation for the basic label is in ordinary text.
Prefix Value Example Description

pico 10−12 pm 1 trillionth of a meter
nano 10−9 ng 1 billionth of a gram
micro 10−6 µm 1 millionth of a meter
milli 10−3 mm 1 thousandth of a meter
kilo 103 kg 1000 grams
Mega 106 MPa 1 million Pascal
Giga 109 GW 1 billion watts
Tera 1012 TB 1 tera bytes
centi 10−2 cm 1 hundredth of a meter
Quiz
1. Prove that 1 ton of refrigeration = 50 kcal/min. (Note: 1 ton

of refrigeration is the amount of cooling produced by melting
1 short ton (= 2000 lb) of ice in a period of 24 hours. Latent
heat of melting of ice = 80 kcal/kg.
2. Calculate the per capita land availability in India in
cents/person. (Land area of India = 3.287 million km2 ;
Human population of India = 1.35 billion in 2020)
3. 1 barrel of crude oil weighs kg.
1 barrel = 159 litres; density of crude oil = 0.881 g/cc.

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UCH 1201 Principles of Chemical Engineering

Units and Dimensions

Department of Chemical Engineering

May 17, 2021

Units and Dimensions - Conversion factors.

I To give an overview of common dimensions and units.

I To convert from one system of unit to another for the most

A dimension is a measure of a physical variable (without numerical

Dimension: A physical entity that can be measured (e.g.:

The common unit systems in use today:

The primary dimensions are: mass, length, time, temperature,

1 ◦ C rise = 1.8 ◦ F rise

About 2500 kcal/day ( 10 MJ/day) is the per capita food energy

1 ton of refrigeration = 50 kcal/min.

Prefix Value Example Description

1. Prove that 1 ton of refrigeration = 50 kcal/min. (Note: 1 ton

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