Calculating Uncertainties

A Quick Guide

What Is An Uncertainty?

No measuring instrument (be it a plastic

ruler or the worlds most accurate
thermometer) is perfectly accurate

When you make any measurement, there

always is some uncertainty as to the exact
value.

For example:

The ruler says this red line is 3.5 cm long

Due to imperfections in the design and
manufacturing of the ruler, I cant be sure that it
is exactly 3.500 cm, just something close to that,
perhaps 3.492. or 3.521

Measuring Uncertainties

Most equipment manufacturers know

the level of uncertainty in their
instruments, and will tell you.

For example:

The instruction manual that came with my

ruler tells me it is accurate to +/- 0.05 cm.
This means my 3.5 cm line is actually
anywhere between 3.45 and 3.55 cm long
Importantly: we have no way of knowing
where in this range the actual length is,
unless we use a more accurate ruler

How Big Are The Uncertainties?

Most good apparatus will have the

uncertainty written on it, so make a
note of it.

Where this is not the case, use half

the smallest division:

For example: if a balance can measure

to two decimal places, the uncertainty
would by +/- 0.005 g

When manually measuring time, you

should round to the nearest whole
second, and decide the uncertainty
based on the nature of your
measurement.

Absolute

Absolute uncertainty is
the actual size of the
uncertainty in the units
used to measure it.

This is what the previous

slide referred to

In our ruler example, the

absolute uncertainty is
+/- 0.05 cm

Relative Uncertainty

and

To minimise absolute
uncertainty, you should
use the most accurate
equipment possible.

This is the size of the uncertainty

relative to the value measured, and
is usually expressed as a percentage

Relative uncertainty can be

calculated by dividing the absolute
uncertainty by the measured value
and multiplying by 100

In our ruler example, the relative

uncertainty is
0.05 / 3.5 x 100 = 1.4%

To minimise relative uncertainty, you

should aim to make bigger
measurements

How do uncertainties affect my

calculations?

If the numbers you are putting into a calculation

are uncertain, the result of the calculation will
be too

You need to be able to calculate the degree of

uncertainty

The Golden Rules:

When adding/subtracting: add the absolute

uncertainty

When multiplying/dividing: add the relative

Example: A Titration

In a titration, the initial reading on my burette was 0.0 cm 3,

and the final reading was 15.7 cm 3. The burette is accurate
to +/- 0.05 cm3. What are the most and least amounts of
liquid I could have added?

The volume of liquid added is the final reading minus the

initial reading, so we need to add absolute uncertainty in
each reading.

Absolute uncertainty = 0.05 + 0.05 = 0.10 cm 3

Most amount = 15.7 + 0.10 = 15.8 cm 3

Least amount = 15.7 - 0.10 = 15.6 cm 3

Example 2: A rate of reaction

In an experiment on the rate of a reaction, a student timed how long

it would take to produce 100 cm3 of gas, at a variety of different
temperatures. At 30OC, it took 26.67 seconds. The gas syringe used
was accurate to +/- 0.25 cm3. What is the average rate of reaction,
and what is the relative uncertainty in this value?

Rate = volume / time = 100 / 27 = 3.70 cm 3s-1

Time is rounded to the nearest whole second as human reaction times do not
allow for 2 decimal places of accuracy

Absolute uncertainty of volume: +/- 0.25 cm 3

Absolute uncertainty of time: +/- 0.5s

This is an approximation, taking into account reaction time and the difficulty
of pressing stop exactly at 100 cm 3.
You should make similar approximations whenever you are manually
recording time, and should write a short sentence to justify them

Example 2 continued

Relative uncertainty of volume

Relative uncertainty of time

% Uncertainty = (absolute uncertainty / measured value) x

100
= 0.25/100 x 100 = 0.25%

% Uncertainty = (0.5 / 27) x 100 = 1.85%

Relative uncertainty of rate

% Uncertainty (rate) = % uncertainty (volume) + %

uncertainty (time)
= 0.25 + 1.85
= 2.10%
The relative uncertainties were added as the rate calculation
required a division calculation

Uncertainty propagation of averages

This is more complicated as we need to make

a choice: the uncertainty is either:
The absolute uncertainty of the measured value
OR
The standard deviation of our data

We must choose whichever is larger

For example

With the previous example, if I did three repeat titrations all accurate to +/0.10 cm3, what is the average titre?

Volume added
(cm3) +/- 0.10
cm3

15.7

15.4

15.9

Absolute uncertainty of measured values = +/- 0.10 cm 3

Standard deviation = +/- 0.25 cm 3

To calculate standard deviation: Calculate the variance by subtracting each value from
the average value, squaring it and then averaging the squared values; now take the
quare root of the variance. See here: http://
www.mathsisfun.com/data/standard-deviation.html
Alternatively use the STDEVP* function in Excel. =STDEVP(Range)

Tria
l

This calculates standard deviation of a population, rather than STDEV which calculates standard
deviation of a sample (see the link above for an explanation of the difference).

The standard deviation is larger than the absolute uncertainty so:

Average titre = (15.7+15.4+15.9)/3 = (15.7 +/- 0.30) cm 3

Some Practice Questions

With a stopwatch you time that it takes a friend 8.5 s (+/- 0.25 s, human
reaction time) to run 50 metres (+/- 0.50 m). If speed = distance / time:

1.
a.

How fast was the friend running?

b.

What is the relative error in the speed?

c.

What are the fastest and slowest possible speeds?

Whilst doing an experiment on density, you find that a lump of material

with a mass of 1.22 g (+/- 0.0010g) has a volume of 0.65 cm3 (+/- 0.05
cm3). If density = mass / volume:

2.

a.

What is the density of the material?

b.

What is the relative error in the density?

c.

What are the highest and lowest possible values for the density?

d.

How could you improve the experiment to reduce the uncertainty in the result?

A candle was burnt and the energy it produced measured. The initial
mass of the candle was 25.1 g (+/- 0.05) grams and the final mass was
22.7 g (+/- 0.05 g). It was found the candle released 80.2 kJ energy (+/1.5 kJ).

3.

a.

Calculate the energy released per gram of wax burnt (energy released/mass of
candle burnt).

b.

Calculate the absolute and relative error in the mass of candle wax burnt.

Answers: Q1 a) 5.67 m/s, b) 3.9%, c) max: 6.13 m/s, min: 5.67 m/s; Q2 a) 1.88 g/cm3, b) 7.8%, c) max:
2.03 g/cm3, min: 1.73 g/cm3, d) measure volume more accurately, and/or use a bigger lump to reduce relative error
in volume; Q3 a) 33.4 kJ/g, b) Abs: +/- 0.10 g, Rel: +/- 4.2%, c) +/- 6.0%, d) max: 75.4 kJ/g, min: 85.0 kJ/g