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units and measurement xi physics
units and measurement xi physics
SUBJECT : PHYSICS 
CHAPTER : UNITS AND MEASUREMENT 
TOPIC : PARALLAX 
CLASS : 11TH 
MADE BY : ASWIN KUMAR.R
Page 4 
 Any measurable quantity is called 
physical quantity. 
 Physical quantity is of two types 
(1) fundamental quantity 
(2) derived quantity
Fundamental quantity 
It is a physical quantity which does not depend upon other 
physical quantities. 
Example : length , mass , time etc… 
Derived quantity 
It is a physical quantity which depend upon other physical 
quantities. 
Example : speed , area , velocity etc…
 CGS SYSTEM –CENTIMETRE, GRAM AND SECOND. 
 FPS SYSTEM –FOOT, POUND AND SECOND. 
 MKS SYSTEM –METRE,KILOGRAM AND SECOND. 
 SI units – systeme internationale d’ units . 
 It is the standard scheme of weights and 
measure. 
 There are 7 base units. 
6
Base units SI units Symbol 
Length metre m 
Mass kilogram kg 
Time second s 
Temperature kelvin K 
Electric 
ampere A 
current 
Amount of 
substance 
mole mol 
Luminous 
intensity 
candela cd
Parallax method
Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent 
position of an object viewed along two different lines of 
sight, and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of 
inclination between those two lines.[1][2] The term is derived 
from the Greekπαράλλαξις (parallaxis), meaning "alteration". 
Nearby objects have a larger parallax than more distant 
objects when observed from different positions, so parallax 
can be used to determine distances. 
Astronomers use the principle of parallax to measure 
distances to the closer stars. Here, the term "parallax" is 
the semi-angle of inclination between two sight-lines to the 
star, as observed when the Earth is on opposite sides of the 
sun in its orbit.[3]These distances form the lowest rung of 
what is called "the cosmic distance ladder", the first in a 
succession of methods by which astronomers determine the 
distances to celestial objects, serving as a basis for other 
distance measurements in astronomy forming the higher 
rungs of the ladder.
units and measurement xi physics
Parallax also affects optical instruments such as rifle 
scopes, binoculars, microscopes, and twin-lens reflex 
cameras that view objects from slightly different 
angles. Many animals, including humans, have 
two eyes with overlapping visual fields that use 
parallax to gain depth perception; this process is 
known as stereopsis. In computer vision the effect is 
used for computer stereo vision, and there is a device 
called a parallax rangefinder that uses it to find 
range, and in some variations also altitude to a target. 
A simple everyday example of parallax can be seen in 
the dashboard of motor vehicles that use a needle-style 
speedometer gauge. When viewed from directly 
in front, the speed may show exactly 60; but when 
viewed from the passenger seat the needle may 
appear to show a slightly different speed, due to the 
angle of viewing.
LOGO This image demonstrates parallax. The Sun is visible above the 
streetlight. The reflection in the water is a virtual image of 
the Sun and the streetlight. The location of the virtual image 
is below the surface of the water, offering a different 
vantage point of the streetlight, which appears to be shifted 
relative to the more distant Sun. 
As the eyes of humans and other animals are in different 
positions on the head, they present different views 
simultaneously. This is the basis of stereopsis, the process by 
which the brain exploits the parallax due to the different 
views from the eye to gain depth perception and estimate 
distances to objects.[4] Animals also use motion parallax, in 
which the animals (or just the head) move to gain different 
viewpoints. For example, pigeons (whose eyes do not have 
overlapping fields of view and thus cannot use stereopsis) bob 
their heads up and down to see depth.[5] 
The motion parallax is exploited also in wiggle stereoscopy, 
computer graphics which provide depth cues through 
viewpoint-shifting animation rather than through binocular
units and measurement xi physics
Parallax in astronomy 
Parallax is an angle subtended by a line 
on a point. In the upper diagram the earth 
in its orbit sweeps the parallax angle 
subtended on the sun. The lower diagram 
shows an equal angle swept by the sun in 
a geostatic model. A similar diagram can 
be drawn for a star except that the angle 
of parallax would be minuscule. 
Parallax arises due to change in 
viewpoint occurring due to motion of the 
observer, of the observed, or of both. 
What is essential is relative motion. By 
observing parallax, measuring angles, 
and using geometry, one can 
determine distance.
units and measurement xi physics
Stellar parallax 
Stellar parallax created by the relative motion between the Earth and 
a star can be seen, in the Copernican model, as arising from the orbit of 
the Earth around the Sun: the star only appears to move relative to more 
distant objects in the sky. In a geostatic model, the movement of the star 
would have to be taken as real with the star oscillating across the sky with 
respect to the background stars. 
Stellar parallax is most often measured using annual parallax, defined as 
the difference in position of a star as seen from the Earth and Sun, i. e. 
the angle subtended at a star by the mean radius of the Earth's orbit 
around the Sun. The parsec (3.26 light-years) is defined as the distance 
for which the annual parallax is 1 arcsecond. Annual parallax is normally 
measured by observing the position of a star at different times of 
the year as the Earth moves through its orbit. Measurement of annual 
parallax was the first reliable way to determine the distances to the 
closest stars. The first successful measurements of stellar parallax were 
made byFriedrich Bessel in 1838 for the star 61 Cygni using 
a heliometer.[6] Stellar parallax remains the standard for calibrating other 
measurement methods. Accurate calculations of distance based on stellar 
parallax require a measurement of the distance from the Earth to the Sun, 
now based on radar reflection off the surfaces of planets.[7]
units and measurement xi physics
measure. The nearest star to the Sun (and thus the star with the largest 
parallax), Proxima Centauri, has a parallax of 0.7687 ± 0.0003 arcsec.[8] This angle 
is approximately that subtended by an object 2 centimeters in diameter located 5.3 
kilometers away. 
2014).[9] 
The fact that stellar parallax was so small that it was unobservable at the time was 
used as the main scientific argument against heliocentrism during the early modern 
age. It is clear from Euclid's geometry that the effect would be undetectable if 
the stars were far enough away, but for various reasons such gigantic distances 
involved seemed entirely implausible: it was one of Tycho's principal objections 
to Copernican heliocentrism that in order for it to be compatible with the lack of 
observable stellar parallax, there would have to be an enormous and unlikely void 
between the orbit of Saturn and the eighth sphere (the fixed stars).[10] 
In 1989, the satellite Hipparcos was launched primarily for obtaining improved 
parallaxes and proper motions for over 100,000 nearby stars, increasing the reach 
of the method tenfold. Even so, Hipparcos is only able to measure parallax angles 
for stars up to about 1,600 light-years away, a little more than one percent of the 
diameter of theMilky Way Galaxy. The European Space Agency's Gaia mission, 
launched in December 2013, will be able to measure parallax angles to an accuracy 
of 10 microarcseconds, thus mapping nearby stars (and potentially planets) up to a 
distance of tens of thousands of light-years from Earth.[11][12] In April 2014, NASA 
astronomers reported that the Hubble Space Telescope, by using spatial scanning, 
can now precisely measure distances up to 10,000 light-years away, a ten-fold 
improvement over earlier measurements.[9] (related image)
units and measurement xi physics
The angles involved in these calculations are very small and thus difficult to measure. The nearest star to 
the Sun (and thus the star with the largest parallax), Proxima Centauri, has a parallax of 
0.7687 ± 0.0003 arcsec.[8] This angle is approximately that subtended by an object 2 centimeters in 
diameter located 5.3 kilometers away. 
The fact that stellar parallax was so small that it was unobservable at the time was used as the main 
scientific argument against heliocentrism during the early modern age. It is clear 
from Euclid's geometry that the effect would be undetectable if the stars were far enough away, but for 
various reasons such gigantic distances involved seemed entirely implausible: it was one of Tycho's 
principal objections to Copernican heliocentrism that in order for it to be compatible with the lack of 
observable stellar parallax, there would have to be an enormous and unlikely void between the orbit of 
Saturn and the eighth sphere (the fixed stars).[10]
units and measurement xi physics
In 1989, the satellite Hipparcos was launched primarily for obtaining improved parallaxes 
and proper motions for over 100,000 nearby stars, increasing the reach of the method tenfold. 
Even so, Hipparcos is only able to measure parallax angles for stars up to about 1,600 light-years 
away, a little more than one percent of the diameter of theMilky Way Galaxy. 
The European Space Agency's Gaia mission, launched in December 2013, will be able to measure 
parallax angles to an accuracy of 10 microarcseconds, thus mapping nearby stars (and 
potentially planets) up to a distance of tens of thousands of light-years from Earth.[11][12] In April 
2014, NASA astronomers reported that the Hubble Space Telescope, by using spatial scanning, 
can now precisely measure distances up to 10,000 light-years away, a ten-fold improvement over 
earlier measurements.[9] (related image)
units and measurement xi physics
Distance measurement 
Distance measurement by parallax is a special case of the principle of triangulation, which 
states that one can solve for all the sides and angles in a network of triangles if, in addition to all 
the angles in the network, the length of at least one side has been measured. Thus, the careful 
measurement of the length of one baseline can fix the scale of an entire triangulation network. 
In parallax, the triangle is extremely long and narrow, and by measuring both its shortest side 
(the motion of the observer) and the small top angle (always less than 1 arcsecond,[6] leaving the 
other two close to 90 degrees), the length of the long sides (in practice considered to be equal) 
can be determined.
units and measurement xi physics
Lunar parallax 
Lunar parallax (often short for lunar horizontal parallax or lunar equatorial horizontal parallax ), is a special case of (diurnal) 
parallax: the Moon, being the nearest celestial body, has by far the largest maximum parallax of any celestial body, it can exceed 
1 degree.[15] 
The diagram (above) for stellar parallax can illustrate lunar parallax as well, if the diagram is taken to be scaled right down and 
slightly modified. Instead of 'near star', read 'Moon', and instead of taking the circle at the bottom of the diagram to represent 
the size of the Earth's orbit around the Sun, take it to be the size of the Earth's globe, and of a circle around the Earth's surface. 
Then, the lunar (horizontal) parallax amounts to the difference in angular position, relative to the background of distant stars, 
of the Moon as seen from two different viewing positions on the Earth: one of the viewing positions is the place from which the 
Moon can be seen directly overhead at a given moment (that is, viewed along the vertical line in the diagram); and the other 
viewing position is a place from which the Moon can be seen on the horizon at the same moment (that is, viewed along one of the 
diagonal lines, from an Earth-surface position corresponding roughly to one of the blue dots on the modified diagram).
units and measurement xi physics
MADE BY : ASWIN KUMAR.R 
CLASS : 11TH

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units and measurement xi physics

  • 3. SUBJECT : PHYSICS CHAPTER : UNITS AND MEASUREMENT TOPIC : PARALLAX CLASS : 11TH MADE BY : ASWIN KUMAR.R
  • 4. Page 4  Any measurable quantity is called physical quantity.  Physical quantity is of two types (1) fundamental quantity (2) derived quantity
  • 5. Fundamental quantity It is a physical quantity which does not depend upon other physical quantities. Example : length , mass , time etc… Derived quantity It is a physical quantity which depend upon other physical quantities. Example : speed , area , velocity etc…
  • 6.  CGS SYSTEM –CENTIMETRE, GRAM AND SECOND.  FPS SYSTEM –FOOT, POUND AND SECOND.  MKS SYSTEM –METRE,KILOGRAM AND SECOND.  SI units – systeme internationale d’ units .  It is the standard scheme of weights and measure.  There are 7 base units. 6
  • 7. Base units SI units Symbol Length metre m Mass kilogram kg Time second s Temperature kelvin K Electric ampere A current Amount of substance mole mol Luminous intensity candela cd
  • 9. Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight, and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines.[1][2] The term is derived from the Greekπαράλλαξις (parallaxis), meaning "alteration". Nearby objects have a larger parallax than more distant objects when observed from different positions, so parallax can be used to determine distances. Astronomers use the principle of parallax to measure distances to the closer stars. Here, the term "parallax" is the semi-angle of inclination between two sight-lines to the star, as observed when the Earth is on opposite sides of the sun in its orbit.[3]These distances form the lowest rung of what is called "the cosmic distance ladder", the first in a succession of methods by which astronomers determine the distances to celestial objects, serving as a basis for other distance measurements in astronomy forming the higher rungs of the ladder.
  • 11. Parallax also affects optical instruments such as rifle scopes, binoculars, microscopes, and twin-lens reflex cameras that view objects from slightly different angles. Many animals, including humans, have two eyes with overlapping visual fields that use parallax to gain depth perception; this process is known as stereopsis. In computer vision the effect is used for computer stereo vision, and there is a device called a parallax rangefinder that uses it to find range, and in some variations also altitude to a target. A simple everyday example of parallax can be seen in the dashboard of motor vehicles that use a needle-style speedometer gauge. When viewed from directly in front, the speed may show exactly 60; but when viewed from the passenger seat the needle may appear to show a slightly different speed, due to the angle of viewing.
  • 12. LOGO This image demonstrates parallax. The Sun is visible above the streetlight. The reflection in the water is a virtual image of the Sun and the streetlight. The location of the virtual image is below the surface of the water, offering a different vantage point of the streetlight, which appears to be shifted relative to the more distant Sun. As the eyes of humans and other animals are in different positions on the head, they present different views simultaneously. This is the basis of stereopsis, the process by which the brain exploits the parallax due to the different views from the eye to gain depth perception and estimate distances to objects.[4] Animals also use motion parallax, in which the animals (or just the head) move to gain different viewpoints. For example, pigeons (whose eyes do not have overlapping fields of view and thus cannot use stereopsis) bob their heads up and down to see depth.[5] The motion parallax is exploited also in wiggle stereoscopy, computer graphics which provide depth cues through viewpoint-shifting animation rather than through binocular
  • 14. Parallax in astronomy Parallax is an angle subtended by a line on a point. In the upper diagram the earth in its orbit sweeps the parallax angle subtended on the sun. The lower diagram shows an equal angle swept by the sun in a geostatic model. A similar diagram can be drawn for a star except that the angle of parallax would be minuscule. Parallax arises due to change in viewpoint occurring due to motion of the observer, of the observed, or of both. What is essential is relative motion. By observing parallax, measuring angles, and using geometry, one can determine distance.
  • 16. Stellar parallax Stellar parallax created by the relative motion between the Earth and a star can be seen, in the Copernican model, as arising from the orbit of the Earth around the Sun: the star only appears to move relative to more distant objects in the sky. In a geostatic model, the movement of the star would have to be taken as real with the star oscillating across the sky with respect to the background stars. Stellar parallax is most often measured using annual parallax, defined as the difference in position of a star as seen from the Earth and Sun, i. e. the angle subtended at a star by the mean radius of the Earth's orbit around the Sun. The parsec (3.26 light-years) is defined as the distance for which the annual parallax is 1 arcsecond. Annual parallax is normally measured by observing the position of a star at different times of the year as the Earth moves through its orbit. Measurement of annual parallax was the first reliable way to determine the distances to the closest stars. The first successful measurements of stellar parallax were made byFriedrich Bessel in 1838 for the star 61 Cygni using a heliometer.[6] Stellar parallax remains the standard for calibrating other measurement methods. Accurate calculations of distance based on stellar parallax require a measurement of the distance from the Earth to the Sun, now based on radar reflection off the surfaces of planets.[7]
  • 18. measure. The nearest star to the Sun (and thus the star with the largest parallax), Proxima Centauri, has a parallax of 0.7687 ± 0.0003 arcsec.[8] This angle is approximately that subtended by an object 2 centimeters in diameter located 5.3 kilometers away. 2014).[9] The fact that stellar parallax was so small that it was unobservable at the time was used as the main scientific argument against heliocentrism during the early modern age. It is clear from Euclid's geometry that the effect would be undetectable if the stars were far enough away, but for various reasons such gigantic distances involved seemed entirely implausible: it was one of Tycho's principal objections to Copernican heliocentrism that in order for it to be compatible with the lack of observable stellar parallax, there would have to be an enormous and unlikely void between the orbit of Saturn and the eighth sphere (the fixed stars).[10] In 1989, the satellite Hipparcos was launched primarily for obtaining improved parallaxes and proper motions for over 100,000 nearby stars, increasing the reach of the method tenfold. Even so, Hipparcos is only able to measure parallax angles for stars up to about 1,600 light-years away, a little more than one percent of the diameter of theMilky Way Galaxy. The European Space Agency's Gaia mission, launched in December 2013, will be able to measure parallax angles to an accuracy of 10 microarcseconds, thus mapping nearby stars (and potentially planets) up to a distance of tens of thousands of light-years from Earth.[11][12] In April 2014, NASA astronomers reported that the Hubble Space Telescope, by using spatial scanning, can now precisely measure distances up to 10,000 light-years away, a ten-fold improvement over earlier measurements.[9] (related image)
  • 20. The angles involved in these calculations are very small and thus difficult to measure. The nearest star to the Sun (and thus the star with the largest parallax), Proxima Centauri, has a parallax of 0.7687 ± 0.0003 arcsec.[8] This angle is approximately that subtended by an object 2 centimeters in diameter located 5.3 kilometers away. The fact that stellar parallax was so small that it was unobservable at the time was used as the main scientific argument against heliocentrism during the early modern age. It is clear from Euclid's geometry that the effect would be undetectable if the stars were far enough away, but for various reasons such gigantic distances involved seemed entirely implausible: it was one of Tycho's principal objections to Copernican heliocentrism that in order for it to be compatible with the lack of observable stellar parallax, there would have to be an enormous and unlikely void between the orbit of Saturn and the eighth sphere (the fixed stars).[10]
  • 22. In 1989, the satellite Hipparcos was launched primarily for obtaining improved parallaxes and proper motions for over 100,000 nearby stars, increasing the reach of the method tenfold. Even so, Hipparcos is only able to measure parallax angles for stars up to about 1,600 light-years away, a little more than one percent of the diameter of theMilky Way Galaxy. The European Space Agency's Gaia mission, launched in December 2013, will be able to measure parallax angles to an accuracy of 10 microarcseconds, thus mapping nearby stars (and potentially planets) up to a distance of tens of thousands of light-years from Earth.[11][12] In April 2014, NASA astronomers reported that the Hubble Space Telescope, by using spatial scanning, can now precisely measure distances up to 10,000 light-years away, a ten-fold improvement over earlier measurements.[9] (related image)
  • 24. Distance measurement Distance measurement by parallax is a special case of the principle of triangulation, which states that one can solve for all the sides and angles in a network of triangles if, in addition to all the angles in the network, the length of at least one side has been measured. Thus, the careful measurement of the length of one baseline can fix the scale of an entire triangulation network. In parallax, the triangle is extremely long and narrow, and by measuring both its shortest side (the motion of the observer) and the small top angle (always less than 1 arcsecond,[6] leaving the other two close to 90 degrees), the length of the long sides (in practice considered to be equal) can be determined.
  • 26. Lunar parallax Lunar parallax (often short for lunar horizontal parallax or lunar equatorial horizontal parallax ), is a special case of (diurnal) parallax: the Moon, being the nearest celestial body, has by far the largest maximum parallax of any celestial body, it can exceed 1 degree.[15] The diagram (above) for stellar parallax can illustrate lunar parallax as well, if the diagram is taken to be scaled right down and slightly modified. Instead of 'near star', read 'Moon', and instead of taking the circle at the bottom of the diagram to represent the size of the Earth's orbit around the Sun, take it to be the size of the Earth's globe, and of a circle around the Earth's surface. Then, the lunar (horizontal) parallax amounts to the difference in angular position, relative to the background of distant stars, of the Moon as seen from two different viewing positions on the Earth: one of the viewing positions is the place from which the Moon can be seen directly overhead at a given moment (that is, viewed along the vertical line in the diagram); and the other viewing position is a place from which the Moon can be seen on the horizon at the same moment (that is, viewed along one of the diagonal lines, from an Earth-surface position corresponding roughly to one of the blue dots on the modified diagram).
  • 28. MADE BY : ASWIN KUMAR.R CLASS : 11TH