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Physics Lesson 1

This document serves as an introduction to General Physics I, covering fundamental concepts such as accuracy, precision, measurement uncertainties, and significant figures. It explains the types of errors in measurements, including systematic and random errors, and provides methods for calculating absolute, relative, and percentage errors. Additionally, the document includes practical examples and exercises to reinforce the understanding of these concepts.

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Yves Velmonte
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8 views25 pages

Physics Lesson 1

This document serves as an introduction to General Physics I, covering fundamental concepts such as accuracy, precision, measurement uncertainties, and significant figures. It explains the types of errors in measurements, including systematic and random errors, and provides methods for calculating absolute, relative, and percentage errors. Additionally, the document includes practical examples and exercises to reinforce the understanding of these concepts.

Uploaded by

Yves Velmonte
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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GENERAL PHYSICS I

Lesson 1:
Introduction
Accuracy &Precision
Measuring Uncertainties
Significant Figures
Problem-Solving

ARLYN JOY O.PIO


TEACHER
What is Physics?
• Physics is a body of knowledge that provides
organized answers to our questions about the
physical world.

• Its goal is to describe all phenomena in the


physical world in terms of a few fundamental
relationships ( law physics) between measurable
properties of matter and energy.
Accuracy and Precision
Measurement and Uncertainties
In the quest to understand the world around us, scientist try to work out relationships among
physical quantities that can be measured.

• Physics is a quantitative science and that means a lot of measurements and


calculations. These calculations involve measurements with uncertainties and thus
it is essential for the physics student to learn how to analyze these uncertainties
(errors) in any calculation.
• All measurements always have some uncertainty. We refer to the uncertainty as the
error in the measurement. Errors fall into two categories:
1. Systematic Error
2. Random Errors
Types of Errors
• 1. Systematic Error - errors resulting from measuring devices being out of
calibration. Such measurements will be consistently too small or too large. These
errors can be eliminated by pre-calibrating against a known, trusted standard.
• 2. Random Errors - errors resulting in the fluctuation of measurements of the
same quantity about the average. The measurements are equally probable of being
too large or too small. These errors generally result from the fineness of scale
division of a measuring device.

Systematic errors are generally “simple” to analyze but random errors require a
more careful analysis and thus it will be our focus. There is a statistical method for
calculate random uncertainties in measurements. This requires taking at least 10
measurements of a quantity.
The following general rules of thumb are often used to determine the
uncertainty in a single measurement when using a scale or digital
measuring device.
• For example, if we measure a length of 5.7 cm with a meter stick, this implies that
the length can be anywhere in the range 5.65 cm ≤ L ≤ 5.75 cm. Thus, L =5 .7 cm
measured with a meter stick implies an uncertainty of 0.05 cm. A common rule of
thumb is to take one-half the unit of the last decimal place in a measurement to
obtain the uncertainty.
Significant Figures
• Calculating uncertainties in calculations involving measurements (error
propagation) can sometime be time consuming. A quicker and approximate
method that is used to determine the number of significant figures in a calculation
is to use a couple rules

.
Significant Figures
HOW TO FIND ERRORS IN MEASUREMENT?
Absolute Error – refers to actual amount of error in the
measurement
Eabsolute = | xmeasured – xactual |

Relative Error - the ratio of absolute error of the measurement to


the accepted measurement.

Erelative = |E absolute / x actual |


HOW TO FIND ERRORS IN MEASUREMENT?
Percentage Error – expressed in terms of percentage. Similar to
relative error except that the error is converted to a percent value.

Percent Error = | x measured – xactual | * 100%


X actual
HOW TO FIND ERRORS IN MEASUREMENT?
Percentage Error – expressed in terms of
percentage. Similar to relative error except that the
error is converted to a percent value.

Percent Error = | x measured – xactual | * 100%


X actual
This formula is also used for the Test of Accuracy.
HOW TO FIND ERRORS IN MEASUREMENT?
Average Deviation– average deviation between the mean
and the data value.
AD = | ( X1- Xmean)+ (X2-Xmean)….|
Total number of Samples/Readings

Relative Deviation- the consistency of a reading can be


indicated by relative deviation. The percentage of mean
deviation for a set of measurements.
RD = |Average Deviation/Mean Value|*100%

This formula is also used for the Test of Precision.


Let’s Try This!
1. The table below shows the results of the
measurement of the diameter of a pencil.
Calculate the relative deviation for these
readings. Reading Diameter of
Number Pencil(mm)
1 12.3
2 11.9
3 12.0
4 12.1
Let’s Try This!
1. The table below shows the results of the measurement of the
diameter of a pencil. Calculate the relative deviation for these
readings. Answer: Average= 12.1mm
2. Reading Diameter of Mean Deviation= 0.1mm
Number Pencil(mm)
3.
1 12.3
RD= 0.8%=1%
4.
2 11.9 High Precision
3 12.0
4 12.2
5.
Average 12.1
Let’s Try This!

2. A measurement is 24.87mm and the


true or known value is 27.00mm. Find the
absolute error.
Let’s Try This!
2. A measurement is 24.87mm and the true or known value is
27.00mm. Find the absolute error.

Answer: 2.13mm
Let’s Try This!

3. A drivers speedometer says his car is


going 60miles per hour when its actually
going 62 mph. Calculate the relative error.
Let’s Try This!
3. A driver’s speedometer says his car is going 60miles per hour
when its going 62 mph. Calculate the relative error.

RE= 2mph/60mph =0.03


Let’s Try This!

4. Sassy estimated the weight of her pet


rabbit, Ash, to be 2.5 kg. Ash’s actual
weight is 2.16 kg. Find the percent error.
Let’s Try This!
4. Sassy estimated the weight of her pet rabbit, Ash, to be 2.5 kg.
Ash’s actual weight is 2.16 kg. Find the percent error.

Answer: Percent Error= 15.7%


Now it’s your time to solve the ff. problem.
1. The weighing scale shows that Bibo weighs 21.36 kg, but Bibo’s
actual weight is 20.68 kg.
a. Find the absolute error of this measurement.
b. Find the percent error of its measurement. Round to the nearest
tenth of a percent.
2. A student determines the density of a liquid. She calculated the
following densities in four separate trials: 0.727g/ml, 0.737g/ml,
0.776g/ml, 0.765g/ml.
a. Calculate the average density of the liquid.
b. Determine the average absolute deviation and RD.
c. Is the data precise ( Yes or No)
Good Job!!!
You are now ready
to proceed to the
new topic.

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