Measurements&Uncertainty

Introduction

MakingMeasurements

Ameasurementshouldalwaysberegardedasanestimate.Theprecisionofthefinalresult
ofanexperimentcannotbebetterthantheprecisionofthemeasurementsmadeduringthe
experiment,sotheaimoftheexperimentershouldbetomaketheestimatesasgoodas
possible.

Therearemanyfactorsthatcontributetotheaccuracyofameasurement.Perhapsthemost
obviousoftheseisthelevelofattentionpaidbythepersonmakingthemeasurements:a
carelessexperimentergetsbadresults!However,iftheexperimentiswelldesigned,one
carelessmeasurementwillusuallybeobviousandcanthereforebeignoredinthefinal
analysis.Inthefollowingdiscussionoferrorsandlevelofprecisionweassumethata
carefulpersonwhoismakingthebestuseoftheapparatusavailableisperformingthe
experiment.

SystematicErrors

Ifavoltmeterisnotconnectedtoanythingelseitshould,ofcourse,readzero.Ifitdoesnot,
the"zeroerror"issaidtobeasystematicerror:allthereadingsofthismeteraretoohigh
ortoolow.Thesameproblemcanoccurwithstopwatches,thermometersetc.Evenifthe
instrumentcannoteasilyberesettozero,wecanusuallytakethezeroerrorintoaccount
bysimplyaddingittoorsubtractingitfromallthereadings.(Itshouldbenotedhowever
thatothertypesofsystematicerrormightbelesseasytodealwith.)Similarly,iften
ammetersareconnectedinserieswitheachothertheyshouldallgiveexactlythesame
reading.Inpracticetheyprobablywillnot.Eachammetercouldhaveasmallconstant
error.Againthiswillgiveresultshavingsystematicerrors.

Forthisreason,notethataprecisereadingisnotnecessarilyanaccuratereading.Aprecise
readingtakenfromaninstrumentwithasystematicerrorwillgiveaninaccurateresult.

RandomErrors

Tryaskingtenpeopletoreadthelevelofliquidinthesamemeasuringcylinder.Therewill
almostcertainlybesmalldifferencesintheirestimatesofthelevel.Connectavoltmeter
intoacircuit,takeareading,disconnectthemeter,reconnectitandmeasurethesame
voltageagain.Theremightbeaslightdifferencebetweenthereadings.Thesearerandom
(unpredictable)errors.Randomerrorscanneverbeeliminatedcompletelybutwecan
usuallybesurethatthecorrectreadinglieswithincertainlimits.

Toindicatethistothereaderoftheexperimentreport,theresultsofmeasurementsshould
bewrittenas
ResultUncertainty
AdaptedfromtheOpenDoorWebsite,http://www.saburchill.com/physics/chap03.html(DavidHoult,2008)


Forexample,supposewemeasurealength,ltobe25cmwithanuncertaintyof0.1cm.We
writetheresultas

l=25cm01cm

Bythis,wemeanthatallwearesureaboutisthatlissomewhereintherange24.9cmto
25.1cm.

QuantifyingtheUncertainty

Thenumberwewriteastheuncertaintytellsthereaderabouttheinstrumentusedto
makethemeasurement.(Asstatedabove,weassumethattheinstrumenthasbeenused
correctly.)Considerthefollowingexamples.

Example1:Usingaruler

Thelengthoftheobjectbeingmeasuredisobviouslysomewherenear43cm(butitis
certainlynotexactly43cm).

Theresultcouldthereforebestatedas

43cmhalfthesmallestdivisionontheruler

Inchoosinganuncertaintyequaltohalfthesmallestdivisionontheruler,weareaccepting
arangeofpossibleresultsequaltothesizeofthesmallestdivisionontheruler.

However,doyounoticesomethingthathasnotbeentakenintoaccount?Ameasurementof
lengthis,infact,ameasureoftwopositionsandthenasubtraction.Wastheendofthe
objectexactlyoppositethezerooftheruler?Thisbecomesmoreobviousifweconsiderthe
measurementagain,asshownbelow.

Noticethatthelefthandendoftheobjectisnotexactlyoppositethe2cmmarkoftheruler.
Itisnearerto2cmthanto21cm,butthismeasurementissubjecttothesamelevelof
uncertainty.

AdaptedfromtheOpenDoorWebsite,http://www.saburchill.com/physics/chap03.html(DavidHoult,2008)

Thereforethelengthoftheobjectis

(63005)cm(20005)cm

so,thelengthcanbebetween

(63+005)(20005)and(63005)(20+005)

thatis,between

44cmand42cm

Wenowseethattherangeofpossibleresultsis02cm,sowewrite

length=43cm01cm

Ingeneral,westatearesultas

readingthesmallestdivisiononthemeasuringinstrument

Example2:UsingaStopwatch

Considerusingastopwatchthatmeasuresto1/100ofasecondtofindthetimefora
pendulumtooscillateonce.Supposethatthistimeisabout1s.Then,thesmallestdivision
onthewatchisonlyabout1%ofthetimebeingmeasured.Wecouldwritetheresultas

T=1s001s

whichisequivalenttosayingthatthetimeTisbetween

099sand101s

Thissoundsquitegooduntilyourememberthatthereactiontimeofthepersonusingthe
watchmightbeabout01s.Letusbepessimisticandsaythattheperson'sreactiontimeis
015s.Nowconsideringthemeasurementagain,withapossible015satthestartingand
stoppingtimeofthewatch,weshouldnowstatetheresultas

T=1s(001+03)s

Inotherwords,Tisbetweenabout07sand13s.

Wecouldprobablyhaveguessedtheanswertothisdegreeofprecisionevenwithouta
stopwatch!

AdaptedfromtheOpenDoorWebsite,http://www.saburchill.com/physics/chap03.html(DavidHoult,2008)

Conclusionsfromtheprecedingdiscussion:

Ifweacceptthatanuncertainty(sometimescalledanindeterminacy)ofabout1%ofthe
measurementbeingmadeisreasonable,then
a) aruler,markedinmm,isusefulformakingmeasurementsofdistancesofabout
10cmorgreater.
b) amanuallyoperatedstopwatchisusefulformeasuringtimesofabout30sormore
(forprecisemeasurementsofshortertimes,anelectronicallyoperatedwatchmust
beused).

HowmanyDecimalPlaces?

Supposeyouhaveatimerwhichmeasurestoaprecisionof001sanditgivesareadingof
458s.Theactualtimebeingmeasuredcouldhavebeen4576sor4585setc.However,
wehavenowayofknowingthis,sowewrite

t=458s001s

Ifwenowrepeattheexperimentusingabettertimer,whichmeasurestoaprecisionof
00001s,thetimermightstillgiveusatimeof458sbutnowwewouldindicatethe
greaterprecisionoftheinstrumentbeingusedbystatingtheresultas

t=45800s00001s

So,asageneralrule,lookattheprecisionoftheinstrumentbeingusedandstatetheresult
tothatnumberofdecimalplaces.

Anotherpointtorememberisthatveryoftenwewillbeusingourresultstoplotagraph.
Onmostgraphpaperyoucanrepresentaresulttoaprecisionof3significantfigures(3sig.
fig.).So(assumingthatyourmeasurementsallowforthislevelofprecision)convertyour
tableofresultstolistsofnumbersinscientificnotationandgivethemtotwodecimal
places.(By"scientificnotation"wemeananumberbetween000and999multipliedby
theappropriatepowerof10.)

HowdoesanuncertaintyinameasurementaffecttheFINALresult?

Themeasurementswemakeduringanexperimentareusuallynotthefinalresult;theyare
usedtocalculatethefinalresult.

Whenconsideringhowanuncertaintyinameasurementwillaffectthefinalresult,itwill
behelpfultoexpressuncertaintiesinaslightlydifferentway.Remember,whatreally
matters,isthattheuncertaintyinagivenmeasurementshouldbemuchsmallerthanthe
measurementitself.Forexample,ifyouwrite,"Imeasuredthetimetoaprecisionof
001s",itsoundsgood:unlessyoutheninformyourreaderthatthetimemeasuredwas
002s!Theuncertaintyis50%ofthemeasuredtimeso,inreality,themeasurementis
useless.
AdaptedfromtheOpenDoorWebsite,http://www.saburchill.com/physics/chap03.html(DavidHoult,2008)

WewilldefinethequantityRelativeUncertaintyasfollows:

(Toemphasisethedifference,weusetheterm"absoluteuncertainty"wherepreviouslywe
simplysaid"uncertainty".)

Wewillnowseehowtoanswerthequestioninthetitle.

Itisalwayspossible,insimplesituations,tofindtheeffectonthefinalresultby
straightforwardcalculationsbutthefollowingrulescanhelptoreducethenumberof
calculationsneededinmorecomplicatedsituations.

Rule1:

Ifameasuredquantityismultipliedordividedbyaconstantthentheabsoluteuncertainty
ismultipliedordividedbythesameconstant.(Inotherwordstherelativeuncertainty
staysthesame.)

Supposethatyouwanttofindtheaveragethicknessofapageofabook.Wemightfindthat
100pagesofthebookhaveatotalthicknessof9mm.Ifthismeasurementismadeusingan
instrumenthavingaprecisionof01mm,wecanwrite

thicknessof100pages,T=90mm01mm

and,theaveragethicknessofonepage,t,isobviouslygivenby
t=T/100

thereforeourresultcanbestatedast=9/100mm01/100mm
or
t=0090mm0001mm

Rule2:

Iftwomeasuredquantitiesareaddedorsubtractedthentheirabsoluteuncertaintiesare
added.

Tofindachangeintemperature,T,wefindaninitialtemperature,T1,afinaltemperature,
T2,andthenuseT=T2T1

IfT1isfoundtobe20CandifT2isfoundtobe40CthenT=20C.

Butifthetemperaturesweremeasuredtoaprecisionof1Cthenwemustrememberthat

19C<T1<21Cand39C<T2<41C

Thesmallestdifferencebetweenthetwotemperaturesistherefore(3921)=18Candthe
biggestdifferencebetweenthemis(4119)=22C

AdaptedfromtheOpenDoorWebsite,http://www.saburchill.com/physics/chap03.html(DavidHoult,2008)

Thismeansthat

18C<T<22C

Inotherwords
T=20C2C

Rule3:

Iftwo(ormore)measuredquantitiesaremultipliedordividedthentheirrelative
uncertaintiesareadded.

Tomeasureasurfacearea,S,wemeasuretwodimensions,say,xandy,andthenuse
S=xy

Usingarulermarkedinmm,wemeasurex=50mm1mmandy=80mm1mm

Thismeansthattheareacouldbeanywherebetween
(4979)mmand(5181)mm

thatis
3871mm<S<4131mm

Tostateouranswerwenowchoosethenumberhalfwaybetweenthesetwoextremesand
fortheindeterminacywetakehalfofthedifferencebetweenthem.

Therefore,wehave

soS=4000mm130mm

(wellactually4001mmbutthe"1"isirrelevantwhentheuncertaintyis130mm).

Now,letslookattherelativeuncertainties.

Relativeuncertaintyinxis1/50or002mm.

Relativeuncertaintyinyis1/80or00125mm.So,ifthetheoryiscorrect,therelative
uncertaintyinthefinalresultshouldbe(002+00125)=00325.

Check

RelativeuncertaintyinfinalresultforSis130/4000=00325

AdaptedfromtheOpenDoorWebsite,http://www.saburchill.com/physics/chap03.html(DavidHoult,2008)

Rule4:

Ifameasuredquantityisraisedtoapowerthentherelativeuncertaintyismultipliedby
thatpower.(Ifyouthinkaboutthisrule,youwillrealisethatitisjustaspecialcaseofrule
3.)

Tofindthevolumeofasphere,wefirstfinditsradius,r,(usuallybymeasuringits
diameter).

Wethenusetheformula:V=(4/3)r3

Supposethatthediameterofasphereismeasured(usinganinstrumenthavingaprecision
of0.1mm)andfoundtobe50mm.
Diameter=500mm01mm

sor=250mm005mm

ThismeansthatVcouldbebetween
(4/3)(2495)3and(4/3)(2505)3

so65058mm3<V<65843mm3

Asinthepreviousexamplewenowstatethefinalresultas
V=65451mm3393mm3

Check

Relativeuncertaintyinris005/25=0002

RelativeuncertaintyinVis393/65451=0006so,againthetheoryisverified.

AdaptedfromtheOpenDoorWebsite,http://www.saburchill.com/physics/chap03.html(DavidHoult,2008)