Explain this statement clearly: “To call a dimensional quantity ‘large’ or ‘small’ is meaningless without specifying a standard for comparison”.

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asked Feb 21, 2018 in Physics by Rohit Singh (61,782 points) 35 133 356

Explain this statement clearly:
“To call a dimensional quantity ‘large’ or ‘small’ is meaningless without specifying a standard for comparison”. In view of this, reframe the following statements wherever necessary:
Atoms are very small objects a jet plane moves with great speed the mass of Jupiter is very large the air inside this room contains a large number of molecules a proton is much more massive than an electron the speed of sound is much smaller than the speed of light.

1 Answer

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answered Feb 22, 2018 by Ankit Agarwal (28,847 points) 7 31 67
selected Feb 22, 2018 by sarthaks
 
Best answer

The given statement is true because a dimensionless quantity may be large or small in comparison to some standard reference. For example, the coefficient of friction is dimensionless. The coefficient of sliding friction is greater than the coefficient of rolling friction, but less than static friction.
An atom is a very small object in comparison to a soccer ball.
A jet plane moves with a speed greater than that of a bicycle.
Mass of Jupiter is very large as compared to the mass of a cricket ball.

The air inside this room contains a large number of molecules as compared to that present in a geometry box.
A proton is more massive than an electron.

Speed of sound is less than the speed of light.

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