The document discusses uncertainties in physics experiments. It defines random and systematic uncertainties and how they can arise. It also covers calculating averages, propagating uncertainties through calculations, and determining uncertainties in slope and intercept from a best-fit line.
The document discusses uncertainties in physics experiments. It defines random and systematic uncertainties and how they can arise. It also covers calculating averages, propagating uncertainties through calculations, and determining uncertainties in slope and intercept from a best-fit line.
The document discusses uncertainties in physics experiments. It defines random and systematic uncertainties and how they can arise. It also covers calculating averages, propagating uncertainties through calculations, and determining uncertainties in slope and intercept from a best-fit line.
The document discusses uncertainties in physics experiments. It defines random and systematic uncertainties and how they can arise. It also covers calculating averages, propagating uncertainties through calculations, and determining uncertainties in slope and intercept from a best-fit line.
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Uncertainties
IBDP PHYSICS (SL)
Kofi Agyemang MPhil (Science Education) Learning Objectives of the Lesson
• By the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
• Distinguish between random and systematic uncertainties; • Work with absolute, fractional and percentage uncertainties; • Use error bars in graphs; • Calculate the uncertainty in a gradient or an intercept. The Experimenter & Experiment • Physics is an experimental science and often the experimenter will perform an experiment to test the prediction of a given theory.
• No measurement will ever be completely accurate, however, and so the
result of the experiment will be presented with an experimental error.
• There are two main types of uncertainty or error in a measurement.
• They can be grouped into systematic and random.
• Random errors are almost always the fault of the observer, whereas systematic errors are due to both the observer and the instrument being used. Systematic errors • A systematic error biases measurements in the same direction; the measurements are always too large or too small.
• If you use a metal ruler to measure length on a very hot day, all your length measurements will be too small because the metre rule expanded in the hot weather.
• In another instance, If you use an ammeter that shows a current of 0.1 A
even before it is connected to a circuit, every measurement of current made with this ammeter will be larger than the true value of the current by 0.1 A. • Systematic errors can result from the technique used to make a measurement.
• There will be a systematic error in measuring the volume of a liquid inside
a graduated cylinder if the tube is not exactly vertical.
• The measured values will always be larger or smaller than the true value, depending on which side of the cylinder you look at.
• There will also be a systematic error if your eyes are not aligned with the liquid level in the cylinder.
• Similarly, a systematic error will arise if you do not look at an analogue
meter directly from above. Random uncertainties • The presence of random uncertainty is revealed when repeated measurements of the same quantity show a spread of values, some too large some too small.
• A very simple example is our blood pressure. Even if someone is
healthy, it is normal that their blood pressure does not remain exactly the same every time it is measured.
• If several measurements of blood pressure were taken over time,
some would be higher and some would be lower. • The reason for this random error is to be expected because of variation in normal processes in the body and in the way that the measuring device works.
• If error is truly random, and if we take enough measurements, then it is still
possible to get a good estimate of what we are measuring.
• However, if random error is large, then our measurements will be
unpredictable, inconsistent and they will not represent the true value of what we are measuring.
• Averaging a large number of measurements gives a more accurate
estimate of the result. Accuracy and precision
• In physics, a measurement is said to be accurate if the systematic
error in the measurement is small.
• This means in practice that the measured value is very close to the accepted value for that quantity.
• A measurement is said to be precise if the random uncertainty is
small.
• This means in practice that when the measurement was repeated
many times, the individual values were close to each other. Averages • In an experiment a measurement must be repeated many times, if at all possible.
• If it is repeated N times and the results of the measurements are , , …, ,
we calculate the mean or the average of these values () using:
• This average is the best estimate for the quantity x based on the N measurements. • How do we determine the uncertainty for a repeated measurement?
• The best approach is to determine the standard deviation (SD) of the N
numbers using your calculator.
• A very simple rule is to use as an estimate of the uncertainty the
quantity:
𝒙 𝒎𝒂𝒙 − 𝒙 𝒎𝒊𝒏 ∆ 𝒙= 𝟐 • Consider the time taken for a particle to complete a number of oscillations: 1.20, 1.25, 1.30, 1.13, 1.25, 1.17, 1.41, 1.32, 1.29, 1.30 • The mean is given as:
The uncertainty is given as:
The period = (1.3
Propagation of uncertainties
Absolute Uncertainty
Fractional Uncertainty
Percentage Uncertainty • A measurement of a length may be quoted as L = (28.3 ± 0.4) cm.
• The value 28.3 is called the best estimate or the mean value of the measurement and the 0.4 cm is called the absolute uncertainty in the measurement.
• The ratio of absolute uncertainty to mean value is called the
fractional uncertainty.
• Multiplying the fractional uncertainty by 100% gives the percentage
uncertainty. • In general if x = (
Absolute uncertainty Mean value
Fractional Uncertainty Percentage Uncertainty
Fractional uncertainty = uncertainty =
Addition and subtraction
• If x = ( + + + . In addition and subtraction, we always add the
absolute uncertainties, never subtract.
• Suppose, you want to find: (i) x + y (ii) x (iii) x + y
(+ +)
( +)
(+ ) + +) Practice
1. The side a of a square, is measured to be (12.4 ± 0.1) cm.
Find the perimeter P of the square including the uncertainty.
2. Find the percentage uncertainty in the quantity Q = a − b,
where a = 538.7 ± 0.3 and b = 537.3 ± 0.5. Multiplication and division
• The second case involves the operations of multiplication and
division.
• Here the fractional uncertainty of the result is the sum of the
fractional uncertainties of the quantities involved:
A= xy gives: A = gives :
A = gives ; + Best Fit - Line
• In mathematics, plotting a point on a set of axes is straightforward.
In physics, it is slightly more involved because the point consists of measured or calculated values and so is subject to uncertainty.
• So the point ( ± Δx, ± Δy) is plotted as shown in the figure above.
• The uncertainties are represented by error bars. In a physics
experiment we usually try to plot quantities that will give straight- line graphs. • The graph shows the variation with extension x of the tension T in a spring.
• The points and their error bars are plotted. The blue line is the best – fit line.
• It has been drawn by eye by trying to minimise the distance of the
points from the line – this means that some points are above and some are below the best - fit line.
• The gradient (slope) of the best – fit line is found by using two points on the best - fit line as far from each other as possible. Uncertainties in the gradient and intercept
• When the best - fit line is a straight line we can easily obtain uncertainties in the gradient and the vertical intercept.
• The idea is to draw lines of maximum and minimum gradient in such a way that they go through all the error bars (not just the ‘ first’ and the ‘last’ points).
• The graph above shows the best-fit line (in blue) and the lines of maximum and minimum gradient. The green line is the line through all error bars of greatest gradient. The red line is the line through all error bars with smallest gradient. All lines are drawn by eye. • Uncertainty in the gradient is given as: 𝒌𝒎𝒂𝒙 − 𝒌𝒎𝒊𝒏 ∆ 𝒌= 𝟐 • Uncertainty in the vertical intercept
