Technical Terms

Physics lab

valid
Achieving the desired results; proving experimentally methods;
proving the theory stated in the objective.
verify
Test the truth of the theory (or objective) by completing an
experiment and analyzing data.
reliability
High quality results or finding that are same and repeatable in
different trials throughout an experiment.
accuracy
The measure how close an experimental value is to actual
accepted scientific value or the measure how close two
experimental values are to each other.
The accuracy of a measured/calculated value is found by
finding the % error between the measured/calculate value and
the real value. A real value is a number value that is accepted
by the scientific community. This value never changes.
Examples of real values: the mass of the earth, the charge of
an electron, g.
The accuracy of the two measured/calculated values can be
found by finding the % difference between two
measured/calculated values. The % difference shows how close
the two values are to each other.
precision
The measure how consistently a value is reproduced.
The number of significant digits to which a value has been
reliably measured.
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Technical Terms

Physics lab

The precision of a set of data is analyzed by the standard

deviation of the mean to determine if it (the data) is
consistently the same.
Calculate the standard deviation of the mean in this class
using;

1
n(n1)

( xix)

i=1

This equation and example problem is on

page 9.
directional proportional
http://www.gcse.com/physics_coursework_analysing_direct_pro
portion.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/maths/algebra/propo
rtionhirev1.shtml

inversely proportional
http://www.mathsrev.com/inverse-proportion-graph/
measurement
A numeric value that represents the amount of a quantity.
calculate
Performing a mathematical process
theory
A set of statements that explain the relationship between
concepts, values, or phenomena.
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Technical Terms

Physics lab

R2
R squared is a statistical measure of how well a regression line
(the best fit line) describes the trend of the data. The value of
R2 approaches 1 as the all the points described by the best fit
line become closer to the line.
When R2 = 1 the two variables on the graph are considered
directly proportional.
R2 links:
http://coefficientsofdeterminations.blogspot.ae/2012/08/rsquared-equals-one.html
http://blog.minitab.com/blog/adventures-instatistics/regression-analysis-how-do-i-interpret-r-squared-andassess-the-goodness-of-fit
parallax error and zero error
Follow this link for explanation of parallax and zero error. This
site also should how to use a vernier caliper. Keep in mind that
the caliper on this webpage measures to 0.1mm and the ones
we used in class measure to the nearest 0.05 mm.
http://www.elabschool.com/physics/measurement/

Relative Terms
Is an elephant small?
Is Abu Dhabi close?
It depends.
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Technical Terms

Physics lab

An elephant is big compared to a person, but it small compared

to the moon.
Abu Dhabi is far away compared downtown Sharjah, but it
much closer than India.
My point?
Dont use terms such as big and small in your conclusions. They
have no meaning. % error and % difference show how close
values are to each other .
In physics lab we have very small sample sizes therefore will
use the following formula to calculate the standard deviation of
the mean:
Equation 8 written on page 8 of your lab manual.
Standard Deviation of the mean measures
The degree to which an instrument will repeat the same
measurement over a period of time.
Equation 8 written on page 8 of your lab manual is used to
calculate the standard deviation of the mean in physics lab.
The lab manual explains that for good precision of data 68% of
show fall between 1 of the mean in a normal distribution of
a bell curve.
Relative standard deviation of the mean also shows precision of
data. If the relative standard deviation is less than 10% then
the data varies a small amount compared to the size of the
mean.
The relative standard deviation quantifies big and small.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_Relative_standard_deviat
ion_tells_us
http://www.chem.tamu.edu/class/fyp/mathrev/std-dev.pdf
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Technical Terms

Physics lab

Air Resistance depends on the drag of the object moving.

Air resistance depends on the speed the object is moving and
the shape of the object.
In order for air resistance to affect objects differently they have
to have different shapes. In the case of two balls in free fall, the
balls have to be different in diameter to have different values of
drag. If two balls have the same diameter but the different
mass they both experience the same amount air resistance.
http://www.universetoday.com/73315/what-is-air-resistance/
http://formulas.tutorvista.com/physics/air-resistanceformula.html
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/eng99/eng99362.htm

Video discussion of positive and negative correlations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWnfwZRAuaY

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