TOPIC 11 MEASUREMENT AND DATA PROCESSING

11.1 UNCERTAINTIES AND ERRORS IN MEASUREMENT AND RESULTS

Propagation of uncertainties
1. Define, with an example, the terms:
a. Absolute uncertainty
b. Relative uncertainty

c. Percentage relative uncertainty

2. Recall the basic rules for propagation of uncertainties

3. Solve the following problems

a. When performing an experiment, that requires a measure of the time, Mona uses her
wristwatch, while Dina uses the stopwatch for the same event. Here are the results:
Mona: 48 2 s
Dina: 46.32 0.05 s
i. Determine the absolute uncertainty for each

ii. Calculate the relative uncertainty

iii. Calculate the percentage uncertainty for each
iv. Calculate the average of the results
v. If you were to use pick one result, which one would you have used? Explain
why
vi. If you were to calculate the speed (speed = distance/time), how would you
report the final answer along with its uncertainty? Assume distance, d = 12.3
0.1 mm

b. Express the following percentage relative uncertainties as absolute uncertainties

i. The uncertainty in most 25 cm3 pipettes is 0.08%
ii. For a titration, the average titre/volume value was 15.34 cm3 with a 20% error

Discussion of errors
When performing an experiment its important to identify the possible errors related to the precision
and accuracy. Explain when to have mostly random errors than systematic errors and vice versa.