Unit (Meaning and Explanation)

We explain what units are and how they can be accumulated or divided. Also, the main units of measurement.

What is a unit?

The word unit refers, from a general perspective, to the property of everything that exists in a singular waywhich cannot be divided without altering or destroying its essence. This term comes from the Latin word unite and this in turn unustranslatable as “one”, “unique” or “singular”.

It is easy to imagine the unit as that which is one (1): a number that cannot be divided into whole parts. Seen this way, the numbers are precisely the expression of the number of times the unit that we are imagining: five would be 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1, for example: five units. Under the same logic, talking about 0.5 would be equivalent to talking about half a unit.

It is in that same sense, The units of measurement are the minimum standardized quantities with which we measure the different magnitudes. physics of the world. That is, in each conventional measurement system we need a minimum portion to consider, which cannot be divided into smaller units without changing scale, and that is precisely the unit.

For example, in the International System of Measurements (SI), also known as the metric system, the units of measurement are:

To measure time, the second (s).
To measure the length, the metro (m).
To measure the mass, the kilogram (kg).
To measure the temperature, the kelvin (K).
To measure the amount of substance, the mole (mol).
To measure the intensity of the electric current, the amp (TO).
To measure the intensity of light, the candle (CD).

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Each of these basic units is part of a measurement pattern, that is, a specific form of quantification of proportions, which allows us to measure an object in one place or another in the same exact terms.

Every unit, therefore, is part of a pattern and a scale, that is, of a conventional system, from which subunits (or derived units) can be derived: a minute, for example, is 60 seconds, while a kilometer is 1000 meters.

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