Physics 1408 Section C1

1 MEASUREMENT AND ERROR ANALYSIS

Marie Bozeman

Partner: Gabriel Cantu Hilbig

Date Performed: January 17, 2017

TA: Yang Liu (Daniel)

Abstract
Anexperimentwasperformedtodemonstratethenecessityofgoodmeasurementtechniquesand
involvementofuncertaintyinrecordingmeasuredquantities.Galileospendulumexperimentto
observeaccelerationduetogravitywasroughlyreplicated,usingtheaidofameterstick,Vernier
calipersandPascoXplorerGLXTM.Thecalculatedaccelerationofgravitywas36.4m/s 2witha271%
errorfromtheacceptedvalueof9.81m/s2.Theactivitydemonstratedsourcesofandeffectsfrom
experimentalerrorsandtheprocedureforproperreportingsuchuncertaintiesofmeasurement.

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 Period of Pendulum vs Length of Pendulum

f(x) = 0.34x - 0

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 Sample Calculations
1. Uncertaintyinameterstick
smallest increment
x=
2
x = 1mm/2 = 0.5mm = 0.05cm

) measurements
2. AverageofTopofBobtoFixedPoint ( X

average=
of measured weights
number of observations
86.22 cm+ 85.82cm+85.93 cm
( X )=
3

( X ) = 85.99cm

3. Standarderror( x )forTopofBobtoFixedPointmeasurements

N
1
standard error = x=
N (N 1) i=1
(x i x )2

x=
1
3(31)
x=0.12 cm
2 2
( 86.2285.99 ) + ( 85.8285.99 ) + ( 85.9385.99 )
2

4. RadiusofBob(RR)fromDiameterofBob
D=2 R
D=2 R
2.51 cm 0.00408 cm
R= ; R=
2 2
R R = 1.26 0.002cm

5. LengthofPendulum(L)
L=radius of bob ( R ) +top of bob point ( X )
L = 1.26cm + 85.99cm
L = 87.25cm

6. PropagationofUncertaintyforPendulumLength(L)
X = (A)2 +(B)2
L= (0.12 cm)2 +(0.00204 cm)2
L=0.12cm

7. Slopeofgraph
y y 2 y 1
k= =
x x 2x 1
y y 1 0.25 s 20.10 s2
k= 2 =
x2 x1 0.75 m0.30 m
k =0.33 s 2 /m

8. CalculategravitationalaccelerationusingslopefromgraphT 2=kL
formula for graph : y=mx+c
T 2 =kL
Galile o' sformula for period of time for each pendulum swing :T =2 L/g

3
 4
T2= L
g
4
slope k =
g
4
g=
k
4
g=
0.345 s 2 /m
g=36.424 m/ s2 36.4 m/s 2
9. Percentageerrorofgravitationalacceleration(g)
Percent error= | MeasuredAccepted
ValueAccepted Value
Value |100

| |
36.4 m 9.81 m

s2 s2
Percent error= 100
9.81 m
s2

Percent error=271

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 Discussion
Nonexactexperimentalresultsfromtheinvolvementofexperimentalerrordemonstratestheneedfor
uncertaintytoberecordedwithmeasurements.InpartI,apendulumwasmadeanditscomponents
measured.Severalreadingsofthebobandthelengthofthestringfromthebobtoitsfixedpointgave
averagesandthestandarderror.Thelengthofthependulumwasthencalculatedtobe87.250.12cm,
usingpropagationofuncertainty.

Measuresofuncertaintyrecordedprovedthereweresourcesoferrorwerepresentinthemeasurement
takingprocess.ThereadingstakenwiththeVerniercalipersprovidedlowvariationinthediameterof
thebob.Ontheotherhand,readingswiththemeterstickinvolvedestimationandmorephysical
involvementtotakethemeasurement,assuchtherewasaslightlylargerrangeofmeasurementsanda
largerstandarderror.Thelargerstandarderrorfromthelengthofstringreadingwasthemajor
contributingvaluefortheuncertaintyofcalculatedpendulumlength.

Thisdeviationinmeasurementscanbeattributedtoseveralformsoferror.Foremost,theinstrument
resolutionofthemeterstickdoesnotprovideprecisionbeyonditsfirstdecimalplace,requiring
personneltomakeestimations.Withthesetupofthependulumandthelocationofthemeterstickto
thestring,parallaxcouldhaveoccurredinsuchreadings,asthefixedpointofthependulumwas
aboveeyelevel.Furthermore,themeterstickwasnotplacedonaflatsurfacebutratherextendedon
edgeupfromthetable,givingwaytopossibleslantandmisalignment.Multiplereadingstaken
reducedanyresultingphysicalvariations.Theaverageandstandarderroraccountedforsucherrors
made.

InpartII,theperiodoftheoscillatingpendulumwasmeasuredeighttimes,eachwithavarying
pendulumlength.Eachswingwasstartedbyanapproximate10offsetofthependulum.Asobserved
byGalileo,thetimeofanoscillationisunaffectedbytheweightofthebob,butbythelengthofthe
pendulum.Thetimeperswingperiodandpendulumlengthwasgraphedtoobtaink,usingEq(2),
whichwastherebyusedtocalculategravitationalacceleration,usingEq(1).Theexperimentally
obtainedvalueforgravitationalaccelerationwas36.4m/s 2witha271%error.

Theextremepercentageerrorcouldonlybeattributedtothevariouserrorsduringtheexperiment.
WhengraphingT2vsL,individualplotsdidnotfallinalinearfashion,providingalowkvalue,asthe
lineofbestfitincorporatedthelowreadings,particularlyforlengths75.96cmand65.09cm.The
approximate10offsetfortheswingofthependulumwasnotuniformthroughouttheeight
measurements.Aprotractorwasnotusedtoensurethateachoffsetwasaround10,sotheplotson
thegraphT2vsLindicatethatsomeswingshadamuchsmalleroffsetangle,thuspossiblyresultingin
thelargelyvaryingreadings.

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UnlikepartI,thependulumlengthwasonlymeasuredusingthemeterstickonce,therebyopeningup
theopportunityforerrorsduetophysicalvariations.However,aswasdemonstratedinpartI,theuse
ofthemeterstickallowsforsomevariationcontributedbyparallaxandtheinstrumentsownlimited
resolution.Inadditiontothese,eachtrialrunofpendulumswingsateachlengthwereonlydoneonce.
Ifeachlengthwasallowedtoswingseveraltimestoobtainanaveragetimeforoscillationperiods,
thesewouldreducethelargescalevariationsfromthetrend.Therefore,theimprovetheexperiment,
eachlengthofpendulumshouldbemeasuredmultipletimesanditsoscillationperiodmeasuredat
leastthreetimestogiveanaveragereading.Doingsowillgiveabettertrendline,ahighersloponthe
graphasshouldhavebeenexpected,andamoreaccuratecalculationforthegravitational
acceleration.

Theexperimentshowedsourcesoferrorsandthelargeeffectsitcanhaveontheintendedcalculated
measure.Besidesthis,weconfirmedthattheformulaGalileousesforcalculatinggravitational
accelerationworksbestforsmalldegreesofoffset,andthereforemorefactorstakeintoaccountwhen
thedegreeofoffsetvariesbetweenreadingsandwhentheyareheavilymoreorlessthanthe
approximate10.

AnswerstoQuestions:
(1) AsdemonstratedwithpartI,eachmeasuremadeissubjecttoarangeofpossibleerrors,and
soprovidingarangeofmeasurements.Bymeasuringmorethanoneperiod,youare
effectivelyincreasingthesamplesize,andthusdecreasingthevariationinthemeasured
value.Doingsoallowsfortheaverageresulttoberecordedwithinitsrangeofuncertainty,
reducingtheimpactofphysicalvariationsandpersonalerrorsonthefinalmeasurement.

(2) Thetwomostsignificantreasonsforthedifferenceinourmeasuredaccelerationofgravity
andtheacceptedvaluewastheneglectofinfluencingfactorsandphysicalvariation.In
neglectingtopreciselyestimateormeasuretheangleofoffsetforthependulumswing,the
periodsofoscillationforseveralreadingsdidnotfollowtheexpectedtrend.Thelineofbest
fitwasheavilyaffectedbythis,givingalowerslopereadingandsoamuchhighervaluefor
gravitationalacceleration.Ifphysicalvariationwasconsideredandtakenintoaccount,the
effectofneglectingtheangleofswingcouldhavebeenbalancedandaccountedfor.Bynot
takingmultiplemeasurements,theerrorwentbyunnoticeduntiltheplottingofthegraphand
carryingoutanalysis.