Fundamental Quantity

[Kratos]

Is it possible to physically change the values of all the fundamental units of any object....?

[johnk]

Units of dimension, weight, density, volume?

[Old_Geezer]

https://en.m.wikiversity.org/wiki/Fundamental_units

[Old_Geezer]

You want to change all of length, mass, time, electric current, temperature, amount, and light intensity ?

[Kratos]

Yes the units of dimension

[fiction-factory]

well you can change density and volume by changing the state (eg liquid to gas). I'm not sure you can change the weight unless you do domething like react it with something.

[Old_Geezer]

You can chuck half of it away.

[woofgang]

even then you aren't changing the weight are you? I mean if you make water from an ounce of oxygen and two ounces of hydrogen won't you still have three ounces of final product?

[fiction-factory]

Yes, but the discarded bit would still exist, O-G, so the overall mass wouldn't have changed

[fiction-factory]

I agree woofgang- it depends on how you define the object. If we are just interested in a lump of coal and burn it, it will lose mass and volume- but if we add back the mass of the products then I agree it'll probably be unchanged overall

[Old_Geezer]

But it wouldn't be part of the original object.

[EDDIE51]

You can use different units. eg you could measure length in chains, rods and furlongs . Weight in pounds,ounces ,grams or Kilos.But you can't make the values different they are a basic property of matter. As said ,you can change the Phase of an element , solid< > liquid < > gas by heat.But you can't change its basic properties.

[fiction-factory]

Chucking half away wouldn't change the density though- unless it was say a trifle and you ate the cream/custard but left the jelly

[Old_Geezer]

True but you could do more than one thing at a time if you wanted to change all values at once.

[IJKLM]

Is this a homework question?

I only ask, because the answer will differ depending on age and level of education.

Can you tell us which year of education you are in, and what you have been studying recently.

From previous questions you might be around age 15-17.

If so, then FF's answer at 08.51 is probably the one you are looking for.

[EDDIE51]

If we ever develop a Nuclear Fusion reactor (like a small version of the Sun) we will be able to turn Hydrogen (Atomic no 1) to Helium (Atomic no 2) That is a change in a fundamental unit. Other than that I can't see a way it is possible.

[Kratos]

Yes IJKLM i am 15 but it was not my home work question. This was the question which stuck in my mind when i was reading my physics book.
That time the main focus of mine was to know if could change the time according to our wish as its also an measurement only.

[rowanwitch]

It might be an interesting idea for a science fiction story though. Imagine a world where nothing was fixed or measurable......

[IJKLM]

If you are 15, then the answer toyour question is a pretty straightforward, 'no'

There's the law of conservation of mass. In any closed process, mass will be conserved. That is to say, what ever you do to something, like heating, or streching or even chemical reactions, the mass of the original will remain the same (In a chemical reaction, the total mass will remain the same).

For older students,the law of conservation of energy takes precedence, because mass and energy can be interchanged (Einstein's famous E=Mc^2).

So it kind of depends on how the question is framed. Most scientists would interpret your question as , "Is it possible to apply some process to an object such that all its fundamental properties start at one value and after the process take different values" The answer to that is no.

You might be able to change length or density, but not mass (or, if we are in a relativistic frame of reference, energy).

If you mean "Is it possible to switch fundamental units from, for example metres, seconds, kilograms into feet, seconds and pounds" Then the answer is yes. Some of the derived units might be pretty complex and the sums wold be harder, but it's eminently do-able.

Good for you for thinking about this stuff. Keep it up! :)