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Laboratory Activity 1

1) This document appears to be an activity worksheet for students to learn about accuracy and precision in scientific measurements. Students are instructed to drop and toss a steel ball at a target with crosshairs multiple times to generate data points. 2) From the data, students calculate the radius of a circle enclosing all data points and measure the distance from data center to crosshair center. This allows them to assess accuracy as the closeness to the accepted value and precision as the agreement between measurements. 3) By analyzing their results, students can determine which method (dropping or tossing) produced measurements that were more accurate and precise. The activity aims to distinguish and define accuracy and precision in scientific experimentation.

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Emmanuel Abejuela
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186 views

Laboratory Activity 1

1) This document appears to be an activity worksheet for students to learn about accuracy and precision in scientific measurements. Students are instructed to drop and toss a steel ball at a target with crosshairs multiple times to generate data points. 2) From the data, students calculate the radius of a circle enclosing all data points and measure the distance from data center to crosshair center. This allows them to assess accuracy as the closeness to the accepted value and precision as the agreement between measurements. 3) By analyzing their results, students can determine which method (dropping or tossing) produced measurements that were more accurate and precise. The activity aims to distinguish and define accuracy and precision in scientific experimentation.

Uploaded by

Emmanuel Abejuela
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Name: ________________________________ Date Submitted: ________________

Date Performed: _______________________ Score: __________________________

Activity No. 1
ACCURACY and PRECISION

Introduction

Scientific experiments usually entail making measurements in an effort to


determine the value of a quantity (such as density or velocity) or to find the relationship
between two quantities. Once a measured quantity has been reliably established, it is
called an “accepted value” or a “literature value” since it will be printed in a scientific
publication. Since the measuring process always has some uncertainty (no
measurement is perfect!), repeated measurements are made to try to increase the
accuracy and precision of the experiment. However, these two terms – accuracy and
precision – are often confused with each other. In this activity, you will simulate taking
multiple scientific measurements in order to better understand the meanings of these
two terms.

Objectives

• Define what makes a measurement accurate and precise


• Explain the difference between accuracy and precision
• Relate the concept of accuracy and precision to the experiment

Materials

For the group: 1 sheet of carbon paper, 1 steel ball


For each lab partner: 1 blank sheet of paper, ruler, pencil

Procedures for Collecting Data

1. On the sheet of blank paper, draw ‘cross-hairs’ in the center. Carefully repeat
this on the reverse side of the paper so that the cross-hairs coincide. Write your name
on each side of the paper. Label one side “dropped target” and label the other side
“tossed target.”

2. Place the paper on the floor and practice dropping the steel ball from 1 meter,
taking aim at the cross-hairs. Your partner must be able to catch the ball after the first
bounce so that for each drop the ball only hits the paper once.

3. When you are ready to perform the experiment, place the piece of carbon paper
under the target so that the ink side is facing up. Place the target paper with the side
marked “drop target” face down on the carbon paper so that an ink mark will be made
on it when the ball hits.
4. For the drop target, drop the ball from a height of approximately 1 meter ten
times so that there will be 10 marks on the drop side of the target paper. Then, for the
toss target, flip the target paper over and toss the ball ten times while standing
approximately 1 meter away from the target so that there will be 10 marks on the toss
side of the target paper. Each lab partner needs to do this so they have their own set of
marks to analyze.

Data Processing (each lab partner is to analyze their own target paper)

5. On each side of the target paper, draw a circle of whatever size is needed in
order to include all the hit marks. Use the two furthest marks as the ends of the diameter
of this circle. Then, mark the center point of the circle with a heavy dot and measure
the radius of each circle and record your data below. (4)

6. On each side of the target paper, measure the distance from the center of the
cross-hairs to the center of the circle. Record your data below. (2)

7. Attach your target paper to this lab. (10)

Guide Questions

In this activity, the cross-hairs represent the accepted value of some quantity
that you are trying to measure and the hit marks represent your attempts to measure
it.

1. What does the center point of the circle represent? (2)


2. What does the size of the circle represent? (2)

Use the definitions below to analyze the results of your activity.

For a single measurement:

Accuracy - An indication of how close a measurement is to the accepted value

Precision - An indication of the degree of exactness of a measurement

For multiple measurements:

Accuracy - An indication of how close the average measurement is to the


accepted value

Precision - An indication of the agreement among a number of similar


measurements

3. How is the distance from the cross-hairs to the center of the circle related to the
accuracy of the experiment? (2)

4. How is the size of the circle containing all the hits related to the precision of the
experiment? (2)

5. Which set of measurements was more accurate? Explain. (2)

6. Which set of measurements was more precise? Explain. (2)


7. For each cross-hair shown below, sketch a circle of hits with five marks that
represent a set of measurements that is: (4)

Conclusion: In the space below or on a separate sheet of loose-leaf, write one or more
well-written paragraphs summarizing the main concepts investigated in this activity.
Show me what you’ve learned! (5)

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