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Juhi Ramchandani Chem 322 Drawer # 15 Due: 02/22/13 Questions: Lab 1 1.

What is the absolute standard deviation of a single weighing? This data determines the precision of you balance. The manufacturer claims 0.1 mg is the repeatability of the balance. Which balances are seemingly in need of repair or adjustment due to poor limiting precision? The absolute standard deviation of a single weighing for balance 5 is 0.0000 g, or 0.00 mg, for the Weigh Single Penny Ten Times section, and it agrees with the manufacturers claims for the repeatability of the balance. The newer balances are in need of repair or adjustment because they are more variable in their mass readings, indicating a standard deviation greater than 0.1 mg. 2. Which results appear to reflect the presence of significant determinate (systematic) errors? The results from the section involving weighing twelve pennies one time indicates a greater level of systematic errors because of the variations in the chemical composition of pennies over the different years. The pennies changed from being composed of mainly copper to zinc plated with copper in 19821, and the two metals have slightly different molar masses. Also, the presence of oil, grime, and other contaminants on the pennies would have affected the weights. This would have resulted in pennies weighing differently for different years based on the amount of contaminants that linger on them. 3. When this study was first introduced, did you expect all pennies to weigh exactly the same, about the same, or with a distribution? Describe your expectations. Does the data confirm your anticipation? Initially, the pennies were expected to weigh about the same, with slight weight differences being due to a change in the chemical composition of the pennies and potential contaminants adhering to older pennies. The propagation of these systematic errors would result in a greater level of uncertainty associated with the data, making the mean unreflective of the actual population distribution and resulting in individual weight readings being more variable from the mean. It was hypothesized that the change in the metal composition of pennies would cause the greatest difference in mass between older and newer pennies, and this difference would make the data partially normally distributed. This assumption was partially confirmed by the data, which showed that the weights of the pennies were concentrated near 2.5 g (newer) and 3.1 g (older) but that they lied in a somewhat

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Ramchandani 2 normal first and second standard deviations held 58.333% and 100.00% of the data respectively. 4. Mean, median, and standard deviation are characteristic qualities for describing normally distributed data. Do these quantities for your set of 12 pennies adequately describe your data as being normally distributed? What fraction of your results falls within the interval, X s.d., X 2 s.d., X 3 s.d., etc, (X is mean; s.d. means standard deviation)? Mean 2.8458 Median 3.0413 Range 0.6241 Sd 1 0.2879 Sd 2 0.3529 Table 1 Full Set # Sd 1 2 3 Frequency 7 12 12 % 58.333 100 100

The quantities seem to indicate a normal distribution of pennies. For a distribution to be considered normal, approximately 68% of the data ought to be within the first standard deviation, and approximately 95% of the data ought to be present within the second deviation. Seven of the values fall within the first standard deviation, while the other five reside within the second standard deviation. In other words, 58.333% of the sample lies within the first standard deviation, and 100% lies within the second standard deviation. Based on these percentages, it seems the data is somewhat normally distributed; increasing the sample size could potentially make it a true normal distribution. 5. For your set of six older pennies (heavier ones), use your X values and standard deviation values to predict the distribution. For your set of six newer pennies (lighter ones), use your X values and standard deviation values to predict the distribution and compare these two with the one calculated from Step 4. Full Set (Bal. 5, Set E) Older Pennies Newer Pennies Mean 2.8458 Mean 3.0779 Mean 2.5208 Median 3.0413 Median 3.0859 Median 2.5178 Range 0.6241 Range 0.0814 Range 0.0446 Sd 1 0.2879 Sd 1 0.0298 Sd 1 0.0168 Sd 2 0.3529 Sd 2 0.0310 Sd 2 0.0171 Relative Relative Relative Sd 1 10.12% Sd 1 0.968% Sd 1 0.666% Relative Relative Relative Sd 2 11.60% Sd 2 1.01% Sd 2 0.680% Table 2 Full Set Table 3 Older Pennies Table 4 Newer Pennies With the change in metal composition of pennies, it was expected that there would be two weights around which the data would be concentrated, and these weights would correspond to the manufacture year of the pennies. This was confirmed by

Ramchandani 3 evaluating the differences in mean and standard deviations for the three data sets older pennies, newer pennies, and older and newer pennies combined (full set). The full set had a standard deviation and relative standard deviations that were approximately ten times higher than the older and newer penny sets. Therefore, since standard deviation is a measure of population variation, the individual weights in the full set had a greater variability from the mean weight. Thus, more uncertainty, or error, was associated with the full penny set data. When separated, both older and newer pennies had standard deviations that were significantly smaller, so the two populations fell highly close to their calculated mean values. Thus, dividing the full set into older and newer pennies seems to have normalized the distribution. This is reflective in the frequency histograms of the three sets, particularly in the overall shapes of the graphs. The full penny set histogram has two distinct peaks, whereas the older and newer penny sets have somewhat bell-shaped frequency distributions. Below are the frequency histograms for the three data sets.

Full Penny Set


7 5

Figure 1 Frequency Histogram of Full Penny Set (Balance 5, Set E)

Older Pennies
3 2 1 0 0 1 0 0

Figure 2 Frequency Histogram of Older Pennies separated from Set E (Balance 5)

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Newer Pennies
2 1 0 0 1 1 0 0

Figure 3 Frequency Histogram of Newer Pennies separated from Set E (Balance 5) 6. Calculate the means and standard deviation of 36 pennies (your set and other two sets from two other students), and predict the distribution. Compare this distribution with those calculated is Step 4 and 5. What have you found? 12 Pennies, Weighed One Time Sets E & D, Balance 5 Mean 2.8200 Median 3.0413 Range 0.7066 Sd 1 0.2928 Sd 2 0.3699 Relative Sd 1 10.38% Relative Sd 2 12.16% Below is the frequency histogram of the two different sets of pennies.

Frequency Histogram (#6)


11 8

3 0 0

Figure 4 Frequency Histogram of Sets D & E, weighed on Balance 5

Ramchandani 5 From this histogram, it is possible to conclude that the data does not fall under a normal distribution, because there are two distinct frequencies that are predominant in the data. These two frequencies may correspond to the two different metal compositions of the pennies. The data is similar to the full set, in that it has higher standard deviation and relative standard deviation values and a more variable mean in comparison to the separated older penny and newer penny data sets. Thus, this data set is somewhat normally distributed, and further increasing the sample size or subdividing according to manufacture year could make it a true normal distribution or could make the distribution more representative of the pennies. 7. Have you learned anything new about pennies? Have you learned anything new about statistics and their application? It was interesting to see how variable pennies can be in their weights, and it was also a creative way to learn how to use an analytical balance. Some of the determining factors that affect the weight include manufacturing year, which reflects chemical composition, and contaminants, like dust particles or oily residue from the hands. Regarding statistics, it seems that many aspects of statistics can be applied toward every-day purposes, and statistics can be quite handy in monitoring subtle changes or trends, especially the mean and standard deviation functions.

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