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This is a list of well-known dimensionless quantities illustrating their variety of forms and applications. The tables also include pure numbers , dimensionless ratios, or dimensionless physical constants ; these topics are discussed in the article.
The term fundamental physical constant is sometimes used to refer to some universal dimensionless constants. Perhaps the best-known example is the fine-structure constant , α , which has an approximate value of 1 / 137.036 .
Dimensionless quantities, or quantities of dimension one, [1] are quantities implicitly defined in a manner that prevents their aggregation into units of measurement. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Typically expressed as ratios that align with another system, these quantities do not necessitate explicitly defined units .
The constants listed here are known values of physical constants expressed in SI units; that is, physical quantities that are generally believed to be universal in nature and thus are independent of the unit system in which they are measured. Many of these are redundant, in the sense that they obey a known relationship with other physical ...
A physical constant, sometimes fundamental physical constant or universal constant, is a physical quantity that cannot be explained by a theory and therefore must be measured experimentally. It is distinct from a mathematical constant , which has a fixed numerical value, but does not directly involve any physical measurement.
Mathematically, a scalar field on a region U is a real or complex-valued function or distribution on U. [1] [2] The region U may be a set in some Euclidean space, Minkowski space, or more generally a subset of a manifold, and it is typical in mathematics to impose further conditions on the field, such that it be continuous or often continuously differentiable to some order.
It is a dimensionless quantity (dimensionless physical constant), independent of the system of units used, which is related to the strength of the coupling of an elementary charge e with the electromagnetic field, by the formula 4πε 0 ħcα = e 2.
If, by a shorthand convention, it is understood that each physical quantity is the corresponding ratio with a coherent Planck unit (or "expressed in Planck units"), the ratios above may be expressed simply with the symbols of physical quantity, without being scaled explicitly by their corresponding unit: ′ = ′ ′ ′.