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Understanding Measurements
1. Nature of Measurement: To measure a physical quantity is to make an acceptable
estimate of the true and actual value of the quantity.
2. All measurements in science are Mans attempts to determine the true and actual value of the
relevant physical quantities.
3.
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Errors in Measurements
No measurement is without error because:
No measuring instruments is perfect;
No handling of measuring instrument (i.e. technique of measurement) is perfect; and,
No environment of measurement is perfectly stable or error-free.
An error in measurement is the difference between the actual value of the physical quantity
and the value obtained in the measurement.
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Consistent measurements are considered precise but not necessarily accurate they are only
accurate if their mean value is close to the true and actual value.
Consistent measuring instrument is one with ability to register the same or nearly the same
readings when a measurement is made repeatedly.
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To improve consistency:
Avoid parallax errors;
Exercise greater care and consistency in taking readings;
Avoid using defective measuring instrument
3. Accuracy in Measurement
Accuracy is the degree of how close a measurement is to the true and actual value of the
physical quantity.
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When repeated readings are involved, all the values of the measurement must be consistent
and close to the true and actual value:
The mean value must be almost the same as the actual value;
The deviation from the mean value is small and
The spread is also small.
An error represents the difference between the measured value and the actual value. High
accuracy means small error.
To improve accuracy:
when small values are to be measured:
use sensitive instrument
use technique which minimizes starting and ending errors e.g. instead of measuring the time
for just 1 oscillation, measure time for say 20 oscillations and then divide this time by 20;
take repeated readings to get average value to minimize random errors
avoid parallax error
avoid or adjust for zero errors
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4. Measurement of Length
There are different instruments to measure length: measuring tape, metre-rule,vernier calipers,
micrometer screw gauge.
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At Form 4 level, you should be familiar with the use of vernier calipers (2011 P1 Q1 at pg.
280) and micrometer screw gauge verify your proficiency (2005 Paper 1 Q1 at Pg 3). You
should be able to deal with zero errors in both instruments verify by attempting questions on
this.
When small time interval is to be measured and the digital stopwatch is not available (say, when
the period of oscillation of a pendulum is to be measured), higher accuracy or lower margin of
error can be achieved by measuring the time for, say, 20 oscillations 2 or 3 times (instead of
measuring the time for just 1 complete oscillation). Then take the average time for 20
oscillations and divide it by 20 to give the mean period for 1 complete oscillation.
6. Measurement of Temperature
There are a number of instruments to measure temperature. But the most commonly used in
laboratory is the mercury thermometer.
To measure body temperature, there is another mercury thermometer with the range of 35` C
42` C. A temperature above 37` C means having fever.
Both mercury and alcohol expand uniformly with temperature changes. In fact, alcohol is more
sensitive to heat changes than mercury. However, alcohol is colourless whereas mercury is not
which is why mercury is used in thermometer.
The choice between ammeter and milliammeter depends on the size of the current to be
measured and the accuracy needed:
Current Size
Accuracy
Instrument
Small (less than 1 A)
0.1 mA ~ 0.2 mA
Milliammeter
1 A ~ a few A
0.1 A ~ 0.2 A
Ammeter
-------------------------------Voltage, V, (or potential difference) between any two points in an electric circuit is measured by
a voltmeter which is connected in parallel across the two points in the circuit.
--------------------------------Resistance (R) of a resistor in an electric circuit is found by using Ohms law where R = V/I.
Hence, to find the resistance of a resistor in an electric circuit, we measure both the current
flowing through the resistor and the potential difference or voltage across the resistor; we then
use Ohms Law (R = V/I) to calculate the size of the resistance in ohms.
---------------------------------------------------------------------Segment Review Questions
1.
All measurements in science are Mans attempts to make an acceptable estimate of the true
and actual value of a physical quantity True or False?
2.
The difference between the true and actual value of a physical quantity and the value obtained
in a measurement is known as ________________.
3.
There are two main types of errors. State them, describe their differences and how each type of
error may be minimised or avoided give examples where appropriate.
4.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.