Accuracy and Precision

Performed: September 10, 2014

Demonstrators & Roles

ArminaCasildo measured volume of water using 1 mL pipette, computed for the
average and standard deviation, contributed in conclusion
Ralph Dela Cruz measured volume of water using 1mL pipette, computed for the
average and standard deviation, contributed in introduction and recommendation
Jason Lumabas measured volume of water using 10mL pipette, contributed in
results and discussion & conclusion, created the graphical representation
Gary Tomwong measured volume of water using beaker and graduated cylinder,
took pictures of the experiment, contributed in methods and conclusion

Introduction

Two important concepts that would tell that the result of an experiment is correct
and reliable are accuracy and precision. Measurements are never identical even if
measuring the same individual since the results will somehow be dispersed. It will always
be a subject to error until making enough trials to come up with an average or mean of all
the measurements. According to Bell (1999), accuracy describes the closeness of
agreement between the measurements to the true value. Basically, accuracy is how close
the average of the measurement is to the true value. Precision, on the other hand, is the
degree of exactness of a measurement (Zitzewits, 2013). Exactness meaning how close
the measurements is to each other after several trials. Using the concept of accuracy and
precision can also be limited because of several instruments and methods that is why the
concept itself can be judged using simple techniques. Comparing an instrument with
another instrument is a useful technique in determining how accurate is an instrument
while repeating the measurement for several trials can support the precision of a
measurement.
Basic knowledge about several laboratory equipment like beakers, graduated
cylinder and pipettes is needed before doing any thesis work or laboratory experiment to
know which instrument to use to get the most reliable results. The concept of accuracy
and precision must be observed to back up or support any experiment to lessen the
subject for error.

The experiment is done in order to:

Objectives
1. To determine which instrument is best used for getting the most accurate and
most precise measurement
2. To verify if the true value agrees with the average of the individual measurements
of the most accurate and most precise instrument

Expected Outcomes
1. The 1mL pipette would yield the most precise and most accurate measurement
2. The 50mL beaker would yield the least precise and least accurate measurement

II. Methodology

The group first checked the equipment given for cracks or any damages to the
instruments. The 100ml beaker was then weighed once and the reading obtained was
initial weight of the beaker. The group wiped the 100ml beaker with a laboratory gown
for each trial. The other beaker was used for obtaining tap water.
Four instruments were tested for precision and accuracy. The first one was the
50ml beaker. 30ml tap water was obtained using the 50ml beaker and then transferred to
the 100ml beaker. The beaker is weighed and recorded after. This procedure was done
three times.
The next instrument tested was the 10ml graduated cylinder. 10ml of tap water
was measured using the graduated cylinder and then transferred to the 50ml beaker. This
was done two more times to get the target volume of 30ml. The beaker is weighed and
recorded after. The whole procedure is done three times.
The 10ml pipette was the next instrument tested. It was used to measure 10ml of
tap water, transferred the sample to the beaker and repeated two more times to get a total
volume of 30ml. The beaker is weighed and recorded after. The whole procedure was
done three times.
The last instrument tested was the 1ml pipette. 1ml of tap water was obtained,
transferred the water to the beaker and was repeated twenty nine more times to get a total
volume of 30ml. The beaker is weighed and recorded after. The whole procedure was
done three times.
















III. Results

The following data were obtained from the experiment:
Based on Table 1, the 50mL beaker showed the average (27.85) farthest to the
true value which is 30mL. Beaker was then followed by 1mL pipette (28.75), 10mL
graduated cylinder (29.95) and 10mL pipette (29.95). The instrument that presented the
average closest to the true value is the most accurate instrument. In this experiment, the
most accurate instrument is the 10mL pipette while the least accurate instrument is the
50mL beaker.
It can be seen that basing at the standard deviation in Table 1, the instrument that
showed the least precision is the 50mL because it has the highest standard deviation
(1.01). It is followed by the 1mL pipette with the standard deviation of 0.40, then the
10mL pipette with 0.01 and the instrument that presented the most precise measurement
is 10mL graduated cylinder with the lowest standard deviation of 0.0071. This data is
also presented graphically in Figure 1.


Figure 1. Graphical representation of average volume of instruments used

The standard deviation of each measurement is presented in Figure 1 by the error
bars. It can be noticed that the 50mL beaker has a relatively long error bars compared to
the others which means the measurements of the beaker is very dispersed.

IV. Discussion

Getting precise and accurate results is important in scientific studies in order to
get reliable results and be able to defend those results properly. This experiment showed
students the concept and more understanding on how to get accurate and precise results
while also teaching them how to limit errors. Based on Table 1, the results of each trial
was recorded in 2 decimal places because the group applied the rule of uncertainty since
the pointer was not directly pointing at the graduation in the scale. The group estimated
the last decimal place since the pointer was pointing to the space between one graduation
to another. The results also showed that the expected outcome for the least precise and
least accurate instrument of the group is congruent but it showed that the most accurate
and most precise instrument is not congruent with each other. To understand why the
expected outcome was not congruent with the final results the group researched more
about the instruments that was used.According to Cady (n.d.), a person using a beaker
must allot a room for plus or minus 5% error since it is not designed for accuracy or
precision. The instrument is commonly used to store liquids during experiments and not
to get accurate and precise results. Since precision is the degree of exactness of a
measurement, an instrument with the finest division on its scale usually produces the
most precise measurement. (Zitzewits, 2013). This is another reason why the beaker can
not guarantee precise results because its graduation is too far from each other.

Both the graduated cylinder and the pipette possess divisions that is closer to each
other that is why it gathered more precise results than the beaker. According to Cady
(n.d.), pipettes are made for accuracy and precision because it is commonly used in
quantity sensitive studies and experiments. There were many errors that lead to the
groups results and most of them were human errors since the 1mL pipette should have
presented the most accurate and most precise results. Parallax errors, spillage of the tap
water and wrong scale reading could have affected the results and the people conducting
the experiment caused this. The tiredness from too much repetition of getting the target
volume of tap water also increased the risk of committing human errors. The procedure to
the get the target volume which is 30mL is tiresome since the instrument limits its
maximum capacity to a certain measurement. For example, to obtain the target amount of
water using the 1mL pipette, the person conducting the experiment must repeatedly use
the aspirator 90 times in total to get 30mL. Another possible source of error is the use of
tap water itself. Water is known to have a property of adhesion.Adhesion is defined as the
process of attachment of a substance to the surface of another substance (Vert et al.,
2012). The tap water may not be transferred completely to the pre weighed beaker and
there was still residue in the instrumentthat caused errors in the measurement.

Based on the possible sources of error, the result was most likely affected by
errors committed by the group members since most groups in the class presented results
that are congruent to our expected outcome.




V. Conclusion
The group concludes that the least precise and least accurate instrument is the
50mL beaker. The most precise instrument, on the other hand, is the 10mL graduated
cylinder and the most accurate is the 10mL pipette. Theoretically, the most accurate and
precise results would be the 1mL pipette because its commonly use to measure volumes
in small scales that is why it possess fine graduations but because of errors committed by
the group the measurements were affected greatly. The group recommends taking several
samples while randomizing the order of the instruments that will be used to eliminate bias
of being under the same condition while measuring.

VI. Literature Cited
Bell, S. (1999). A beginners guide to uncertainty of measurement. Retrieved
September 13, 2014, from https://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/gcos/
documents/gruanmanual/UK_NPL/mgpg11.pdf

Cady, S (n.d). Measurements. Retrieved September 13, 2014 at
http://www.esu.edu/~scady/measurement.shtml

Vert, M., Doi, V. Hellwich, K., Hess, M., Hodge P., Kubisa, P., Rinaudo, M., Schue, F.
(2012). Terminology for biorelated polymers and applications. Pure and
Applied Chemistry Journal, 84(2), 377-410.doi:10.1351/PAC-REC-10-12-04

Zitzewitz, P., Haase, D., Harper, K. (2012). Physics principles and problems.
Retrieved September 13, 2014, from
https://archive.org/details/PhysicsPrinciplesAndProblemsByAGlencoeProgram