PHY- 100 Assignment

Assignment 3: Propagation of uncertainties

1. In his famous experiment with electrons, J. J. Thomson measured the “charge to

mass ratio” (γ = e/m), where e is the electron’s charge and m is its mass. A modern
classroom version of this experiment finds the ratio γ by accelerating electrons through
a voltage and then bending them in a magnetic field. the ratio (γ = e/m) is given by,
 2 
125 D V
γ= 2 2
.
32µ0 N d2 I 2
In this equation µ0 is the permeability constant of the vacuum (equal to 4π × 10−7
N/m2 ) and N is the number of turns in the coil that produces the magnetic field, D
is the diameter of the coil, V is the voltage that accelerates the electrons, d is the
diameter of the electron’s curved path and I is the current in the field coil. A student
makes the following measurements,

N = 72

D = (661 ± 2) mm
V = (45.0 ± 0.2) V
d = (91.4 ± 0.5) mm

I = (2.48 ± 0.04) A

(a) Find the student’s answer for the charge-to-mass ratio of the electron and find
uncertainty in it. Quote your results (mean value± uncertainty) units.

(b) How well does the answer agree with the accepted value (γ = 1.759 × 1011 C/kg)?

2. When a torsion wire of radius r and length ` is fixed at one end and subjected to a
moment c at the other, the angular displacement φ is given by,
2`c
φ= ,
nπγ 4
where n is the rigidity modulus of the material of the wire. The following values are
obtained,
φ
= (4.00 ± 0.12) rad N−1 m−1 ,
c
γ = 1.00 ± 0.02 mm,
` = 500 ± 1 mm.

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PHY- 100 Assignment

Calculate the value of n and its standard uncertainty.

3. Suppose you measure three independent variables,

x = 12 ± 2

y = 9±1
θ = (40 ± 3)◦

Based on which you calculate the following quantity,

x+2
q=
x + y(cos 4θ)

What would be your answer for q and uncertainty?

4. If a narrow collimated beam of monoenergetic γ-ray of intensity I0 is incident on a

thin sheet of material of thickness L, the intensity of the emerging beam is given by,

I = I0 exp(−µL),

where µ is a quantity known as the linear attenuation coefficient. The following values
are obtained for γ-rays of energy 1 MeV incident on lead:

I = (0.926 ± 0.010) × 1010 γ-rays.m−2 .s−1

I0 = (2.026 ± 0.012) × 1010 γ-rays.m−2 .s−1

L = (10.00 ± 0.02) mm

Calculate the value of µ and its standard uncertainty for γ-rays of this energy in lead.

5. Consider a cart rolling down on an incline of slope θ as shown in Figure (1). The
expected acceleration is g sin θ. We can measure the actual acceleration a by timing
the cart past two photocells, each connected to a timer. If the cart has length ` and
takes time t1 to pass the first photocell, its speed there is v1 = `/t1 . In the same way,
v2 = `/t2 . If the distance between the photocells is s, then the well known formula

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PHY- 100 Assignment

Photocell 1
l

s Photocell 2

FIG. 1: Acceleration of a cart through an inclined plane.

v22 = v12 + 2as implied,

v22 − v12
 
a = .
2s
`2 1
 
1
a = − .
2s t22 t21

One set of data for this experiment is,

` = (5.00 ± 0.05) cm

s = (100.0 ± 0.2) cm
t1 = (0.054 ± 0.001) s
t2 = (0.031 ± 0.001) s

Find the acceleration and uncertainty in it. Quote your value (mean value± uncer-
tainty) units.