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Lab Report 2:
Measurements
2/01/2012

James Allison
section 20362

Group 5
James Allison, Clint Rowe,
William Cochran, & Sultan Alotaibi












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Abstract:
In order to learn to properly use a meter-stick, vernier caliper, micrometer, & laboratory balance
we used these instruments to measure the thickness of a given number of pages of a textbook,
the dimensions and volume of a lab table, the circumference of a brass cylinder and its weight.
We also want to learn how to properly express data using significant figures, which we will
accomplish by taking these measurements and calculating new information from these
measurements. Accuracy & precision of our measurements should increase with the precision
of the instruments used. We will determine this by calculating the standard error.


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Analysis:

1. Values of Thickness

Meter-stick .1 mm
Vernier caliper .06 mm
Micrometer (singe sheet) .075 mm
Micrometer (50 sheets) .107 mm

2. The measurements done with the micrometer obtained the highest number of significant
figures for the thickness of a single sheet of text book paper. The data does suggest that the
micrometer is, what we predicted, the instrument that measures with the greatest level of
significant figures.

3. Precision in percent error = ?
*calculations shown under Table 2
Meter-stick * = .1 mm
Vernier caliper * = .26 mm
Micrometer (singe sheet) * = .001 mm
Micrometer (50 sheets) * = .001 mm

4. Density of the brass cylinder
*calculations shown under Table 3


Density in g/cm^3 * = 8.4 g/cm^3
Density in kg/m^3 * = 8400 kg/m^3


5. Standard error of density measurement
*calculations shown page after Table 3

Using the correct significant figures the percent error in the density measurement is * 0. Which
is what is expected, the accepted density and the calculated density are the same value.




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Discussion

Table 2 contains data collected through different means of measurement of length. Most of the
data was as expected. The meter-stick produced the least precise data, which was .1 mm. This
resolution of measurement put the thickness of a single page at the minimum value possible
using this tool. Because of this I had reason to believe that the actual thickness was less than
the .1 mm calculated.

Using a vernier caliper we calculated the thickness of a single sheet at .06 mm. This
measurement seems much more accurate than the meter-stick. With the precision of the vernier
caliper being 4 times that of the meter stick, the rage of our results were also much tighter.

The use of a meter-stick and vernier caliper both produce very different results. Many variables
were held constant to find this. The technique was the same with both tools. Each member of
our group took a turn to extract a measurement using each tool. This was done on a single
textbook, and the same 1000 pages (500 sheets) of the textbook. (This leads me to note that
the values found are to represent the average thickness of a sheet in given textbook, but the
average thickness of a specific textbook- University Physics Sears and Zemansky)

Next we used tool with even more precision, the micrometer. The given is .001 mm. We used
this tool to measure the thickness of a single sheet of paper. We only did this once on one page
of paper. Which, I believe, increase the margin for error. The one point of data indicated that a
particular sheet of the textbook was .0075 mm thick. We continued to use the micrometer to
measure the last set of data. The average of 100 pages (50 sheets) of this particular textbook.
The data collected had a expected and impressive precision .001 mm of . However, produced
an inaccurate result. This data indicated that the average thickness of a single sheet is .107
mm. Which is way off from the other information collected.

I think there is a reasonable explanation for this occurrence. The measured thickness of a
single page done with a micrometer doesn't take into account the air between the pages due to
the use of the text book that would be when done via averaging. The first 100 pages that were
measured have been put under heavy and recent use (being the start of the semester). Each
page has small wrinkles which would add to the overall thickness of the first 100 pages. Ink
might also play a small role in adding thickness. One other thought is the lack of several
measurements to verify the precision of the single sheet measurement.

The cylinder was fairly straight forward. The observed results were exactly the same as the
expected. The precision of each measurement was modest. However the lack of significant
figures in the weight measurement made the overall calculation exactly the value of the given
density.



Conclusion
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I am confident and now have evidence that my lab group has properly learned to use a meter-
stick, vernier caliper, micrometer, & laboratory balance. We used these tools to measure the
thickness of a given number of pages of a textbook, the dimensions and volume of a lab table,
the circumference of a brass cylinder and its weight. This was a helpful practice in properly
using significant figures. We found that accuracy & precision of our measurements increased
with the precision of the instruments used. We showed this by calculating the standard error.
However, I did learn that there are other extraneous variables that need to be accounted for to
get the most reliable information. Specifically, the possibility of human error regarding a single
measurement, and the use of a single set of pages in a single book. We should of had several
books and taken several measurements of different sections of 100 pages and different single
pages.