Monday, 26 September 2011

Sources of Errors

We began class by discussing last Friday, in which we were assigned to do a project titled "Analyzing the Motion of a Pendulum." For this assignment we had to identify what the relationship was between the length and the frequency of a simple pendulum using an apparatus, a stop watch, and a protractor.

Before we were allowed time to finish the assignment, we discussed sources of errors and why they are important. A measurement is only as accurate as the error involved in the measuring process. So the uncertainty of a measurement is as important as the measurement itself.

There are various possible factors that might affect the accuracy of an experiment.
When we label an experiment on a graph (like shown on the left) we circle the dots on that said graph to show that the measurement is not completely exact and the dot could be practically anywhere in that circled area.
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After that discussion we were left the rest of the class to work on our assignment we were assigned on Friday using the things we were recently taught. Class came to an end and the assignment was said to be due on Wednesday.


The next blog post is going to be written by Evan.

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