Practical 0 Introduction to Data Analysis and Uncertainties

Part1Uncertainties
Physical measurements are never exact. For example, when you use a ruler you can estimate the length to within 0.05cm. So if we use a ruler to measure a piece of string and find it to be 5cm then we should say that it is 5 0.05 cm. We say the uncertainty or error is 0.05cm. If you are simply using a scale then the uncertainty is half the smallest division. Sometimes its not so simple, then you should repeat the measurement several times, the uncertainty is found from (highest reading lowest reading)/2 To find the uncertainty in the water heating experiment Heat the same amount of water 4 times. Calculate the temperature difference for each run. Calculate the average value. Find the uncertainty from (highest reading lowest reading)/2

Part2Dataanalysis
You have already used graphical analysis (GA) to draw a simple graph. You can see that the graph is not linear. To get the labels double click the table headers and fill out the form.

Temperature rise is in fact inversely proportional to mass so the equation of the line is something like y=k/x where k is some constant

Curveplotting
You can plot a curve using GA but first remove the line joining the dots by double clicking on the graph. You will then see a message box like this:

Untick the connect points option and then Done. To plot a curve click this button You will get the following message box:

Choose A/X (Inverse) and OK What does the line look like?

It might not be very good, why doesnt the line pass through all the points?

Plottingerrorbars
An error bar is a line that is drawn on each point on a graph to show the maximum and minimum values. Below is an example of a graph with error bars

Now you can see that although the line doesnt pass through all the points it does touch all the error bars. To plot error bars for mass double click the table header on the mass column. You will get a message box, click the options tab. You will now get the following message

Tick the Error Bar Calculations box then the Fixed value and Error Constant boxes as above. Enter the error in the mass reading. This is 0.1g due to the balance. Do the same for the Temperature column and enter the uncertainty that you calculated in part 1. Does your line pass through all the error bars?

PlottingaStraightLine
Instead of plotting mass vs temperature you could have plotted mass vs 1/temperature this would have given a straight line graph. You are now going to use EXCEL to manipulate the data. Copy and paste the table Into Excel

Note: the numbers in the columns have the same number of significant figures as the uncertainties.

Add a third column called 1/Temperature. To do the calculation follow these steps Click the first cell in the new column Write =1/ then click the first cell in the temperature column. The equation should now read =1/B2. Press return Now hold the cursor on the bottom corner of the first cell until you get a cross like the one below

Pull this down like a blind, the equation will now copy into all the other cells automatically calculating 1/Temp for all the values. You can now copy the mass and 1/temperature back into GA Remove the line connecting the points as before Add a best fit straight line by clicking this button

Your graph should look like this:

If you want to adjust the scale of the graph then you can put your cursor near the axis labels to get the wiggly arrow shown below, You can then slide this up and down to adjust the scale.

To move the graph sideways or up and down then use the arrows next to the labels. To automatically scale the graph to fit the page click this button Plot a best fit line by clicking the linear fit button on the tool bar

Plottingerrorbarsonthe1/Tempgraph
Go back to the Excel table and add columns as below

The max temp is the temp + the uncertainty, fill this in by writing the equation=B2+(uncertainty) and filling down as before In the 1/Max T column write an equation =1/C2 and fill down In the 1/Min T column write an equation =1/D2 and fill down The error in 1/temp is found by subtracting (1/MinT 1/MaxT)/2 The following table has been filled in assuming error in temp was 1C

Notice that the error in 1/temp is not the same for all the values; this means that they have to be plotted in a different way. Also note that the number of significant figures in the error has been reduced to 1 and the number of decimal places in 1/T is the same as the error.

BacktoGA
From the Data menu choose New data set This will add two new columns onto the table, add the heading error in 1/T to one of these and cut and paste the data from excel.

Double click the 1/temp column select the option tab. Again tick the Error bar calculations box but this time use column. Select the Data set 2error in 1/T option from the list Add the error bars to the mass column as before. You should now have a graph like this

PlottingtheLeastSteepandSteepestlines.
The best fit line that you have drawn is not the only line you can draw through the error bars. It is useful to plot the steepest line and least steep line to give you some idea of the uncertainty in the gradient, to do this open the curve fit window by clicking the curve fit button .

This time select Linear then press Try Fit. This will place a best fit line on you graph. Now select manual (top right) and use the arrows to the right of m1(Slope) and b(Yintercept) to place the steepest line through the error bars. The best way to do this is to get the line to pass through the top of the right hand bar and the bottom of the lefthand bar as shown below.

Now press OK and the line will appear on your graph. Repeat the process but with the least steep line. Your finished graph will look like the one below. This is difficult so I will demonstrate it to the class.

The gradient of the best fit line is 0.2829 kg-1C-1 The uncertainty in the gradient is (max grad min grad)/2 = (0.47 0.15)/2 = 0.16 kg-1C-1 rounding down to 1sf = 0.2 kg-1C-1 So the gradient = 0.3 kg-1C-1 0.2 kg-1C-1 Note that the gradient is only given to 1 decimal place since the uncertainty is 0.2 kg-1C-1 In this example the error bars have been exaggerated so that you can see what is being done, you probably wont get such large uncertainties in a real experiment. This is a lot to take in but you will get more practice over the next few months, if you want more help you can ask me or one of the peer tutors, alternatively go to my website http://occ.ibo.org/ibis/occ/resources/ict_in_physics/ and look under graphplotting.