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Assignment-08 : Experimental Methods .

1. A resistance strain gauge is fastened to a steel fixture and subjected to a stress of 1000
𝑘g/𝑚2 . IF the gauge factor is 3 and the modulus of elasticity of steel is 2 × 1010 𝑘𝑔/𝑚2 , then
the fractional change in resistance of the strain gauge due to the applied stress is
(Note: The gauge factor is defined as the ratio of the fractional change in resistance to the
fractional change in length.) [NET June 2012]
(a) 1.5 × 10−7 (b) 3.0 × 10−7 (c) 0.16 × 10−10 (d) 0.5 × 10−7
2. The acceleration due to gravity 𝑔 is determined by measuring the time period 𝑇 and the
length 𝐿 of a simple pendulum. If the uncertainties in the measurements of 𝑇 and 𝐿 are 𝛥𝑇
and 𝛥𝐿 respectively, the fractional error 𝛥𝑔/𝑔 in measuring 𝑔 is best approximated by
[NET June 2013]

|𝛥𝐿| |𝛥𝑇| |𝛥𝐿| |2𝛥𝑇| |𝛥𝐿|2 |𝛥𝑇|2 𝛥𝐿 2 2𝛥𝑇 2

(a) + (b) + (c) √ 𝐿
+ 𝑇
(d) √( 𝐿 ) + ( 𝑇
)
𝐿 𝑇 𝐿 𝑇

3. One gram of salt is dissolved in water that is filled to a height of 5 cm in a beaker of diameter
10cm. The accuracy of length measurement is 0.01. The accuracy of length measurement is
0.01 cm while that of mass measurement is 0.01 mg. When measuring the concentration 𝐶,
the fractional error 𝛥𝐶/𝐶 is [NET June 2014]
(a) 0.8% (b) 0.14% (c) 0.5% (d) 0.28%
4. A resistance is measured by passing current through it and measuring the resulting voltage
drop. If the voltmeter and the ammeter have uncertainties of 3% and 4%, respectively then
[NET June 2011]
A. The uncertainty in the value of resistance is:
(a) 7.0 % (b) 3.5 % (c) 5.0 % (d) 12.9 %
B. The uncertainty in the computed value of the power dissipated in resistance is
(a) 7% (b) 5% (c) 11% (d) 9%
5. A battery powers two circuits 𝐶1 and 𝐶2 as shown in the figure

The total current 𝐼 drawn from the battery is estimated by measuring the currents 𝐼1 and 𝐼2
through the individual circuits. If 𝐼1 and 𝐼2 are both 200 𝑚𝐴 and if the errors in their
measurement are 3 𝑚𝐴 and 4𝑚𝐴 respectively, the error in the estimate of 𝐼 is:
[NET Dec. 2011]
(a)7.0𝑚𝐴 (b) 7.5𝑚𝐴 (c) 5.0𝑚𝐴 (d) 10.5 𝑚𝐴
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6. In a measurement of the viscous drag force experienced by spherical particles in a liquid,

the force is found to be proportional to 𝑉1/3 where 𝑉 is the measured volume of each particle.
If 𝑉 is measured to be 30𝑚𝑚3 , with an uncertainty of 2.7 𝑚𝑚3 , the resulting relative
percentage uncertainty in the measured force is [NET Dec. 2014]
(a) 2.08 (b) 0.09 (c) 6 (d) 3

7. In Millikan’s oil drop experiment the electronic charge 𝑒 could be written as 𝑘𝜂15 , where 𝑘
is a function of all experimental parameters with negligible error. If the viscosity of air 𝜂 is
taken to be 0.4% lower than actual value, what would be the error in the calculated value of
𝑒? [JEST 2015]
(a) 1.5% (b) 0.7% (c) 0.6% (d) 0.4%
𝜋𝑃𝑎4
8. The viscosity 𝜂 of a liquid is given by Poiseuille’s formula 𝜂 = . Assume that 𝑙 and 𝑉 can
8𝑙𝑉
be measured very accurately, but the pressure 𝑃 has an rms error of 1% and the radius 𝑎 has
an independent rms error of 3%. The rms error of the viscosity is closest to
[NET June 2015]
(a) 2% (b) 4% (c) 12% (d) 13%
9. The first order diffraction peak of a crystalline solid occurs at a scattering angle of 30º when
the diffraction pattern is recorded using an x-ray beam of wavelength 0.15𝑛𝑚. If the error in
measurements of the wavelength and the angle are 0.01nm and 1º respectively, then the
error in calculating the inter-planar spacing will approximately be [NET Dec. 2015]

(a) 1.1 × 10−2 𝑛𝑚 (b) 1.3 × 10−4 𝑛𝑚 (c) 2.5 × 10−2 𝑛𝑚 (d) 2.0 × 10−3 𝑛𝑚
10. The decay constants 𝑓𝑝 of the heavy pseudoscalar mesons, in the heavy quark limit, are
𝑎
related to their masses 𝑚𝑝 by the relation 𝑓𝑝 = , where 𝑎 is an empirical parameter to
√𝑚 𝑝
be determined. The values 𝑚𝑝 = 6400 ± 160𝑀𝑒𝑉 and 𝑓𝑝 = 180 ± 15𝑀𝑒𝑉 correspond to
uncorrelated measurement of a meson. The error on the estimate of 𝑎 is [NET June 2016]

(a) 175(𝑀𝑒𝑉)3/2 (b) 900(𝑀𝑒𝑉)3/2 (c) 1200(𝑀𝑒𝑉)3/2 (d) 2400(𝑀𝑒𝑉)3/2

11. The experimentally measured values of the variables 𝑥 and 𝑦 are 2.00 ± 0.05 and 3.00 ±
0.02, respectively. What is the error in the calculated value of 𝑧 = 3𝑦 − 2𝑥 from the
measurements? [NET June 2017]
(a) 0.12 (b) 0.05 (c) 0.03 (d) 0.07
12. A liquid is flowing through a capillary tube of inner radius 𝑟 under the influence of an
external pressure 𝑃. The uncertainties in the measurements of 𝑃 and 𝑟 are found to be 2%
and 1%, respectively The uncertainty in the flow of liquid per second is [TIFR 2017]
(a) 4.47% (b) 2.23% (c) 2.83% (d) 3.61%

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13. Both the data points and a linear fit to the current vs voltage of a resistor are shown in
the graph below. If the error in the slope is 1.255 × 10−3 𝛺 − 1, then the value of resistance
estimated from the graph is [NET June 2017]

(a) (0.04 ± 0.8)𝛺 (b) (25.0 ± 0.8)𝛺 (c) (25 ± 1.25)𝛺 (d) (25 ± 0.0125)𝛺
14. Two physical quantities 𝑇 and 𝑀 are related by the equation

2𝜋 𝑀 + 𝑏
𝑇= √ ,
𝑎 2

where 𝑎 and 𝑏 are constant parameters. The variation of 𝑇 as a function of 𝑀 was recorded
in an experiment to determine the value of 𝑎 graphically. Let 𝑚 be the slope of the straight
line when 𝑇2 is plotted vs. 𝑀, and 𝛿𝑚 be the uncertainty in determining it. The uncertainty in
determining 𝑎 is [NET Dec. 2017]
𝑎 𝛿𝑚 𝛿𝑚 𝑏 𝛿𝑚 2𝜋 𝛿𝑚
(a) 2 ( 𝑚 ) (b) 𝑎 ( 𝑚 ) (c) 2𝑎 ( 𝑚 ) (d) (𝑚)
𝑎

15. In an experiment to measure the acceleration due to gravity 𝑔 using a simple pendulum,
the length and time period of the pendulum are measured to three significant figures. The
mean value of 𝑔 and the uncertainty 𝛿𝑔 of the measurements are then estimated using a
calculator from a large number of measurements and found to be 9.82147 𝑚/𝑠 and 0.02357
𝑚/𝑠 2 , respectively. Which of the following is the most accurate way of presenting the
experimentally determined value of 𝑔? [NET June 2019]
(a) 9.82 ± 0.02𝑚/𝑠 2 (b) 9.8215 ± 0.02𝑚/𝑠 2

(c) 9.82147 ± 0.02357𝑚/𝑠 2 (d) 9.82 ± 0.02357𝑚/𝑠 2

16. A student measures the displacement 𝑥 from the equilibrium of a stretched spring and
reports it be 100 𝜇m with a 1% error. The spring constant 𝑘 is known to be 10 𝑁/𝑚 with 0.5%
1
error. The percentage error in the estimate of the potential energy 𝑉 = 2 𝑘𝑥 2 is
[NET Dec. 2019]
(a) 0.8 % (b) 2.5 % (c) 1.5 % (d) 3.0 %

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Answer Key

1 A 9 A
2 D 10 C
3 D 11 A
4 A(c), B(b) 12 A
5 C 13 B
6 D 14 A
7 * 15 A
8 C 16 B

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Website:- www.quantainstitute.com Email :- [email protected]
Contact:- 8209393226, 9136887760