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Measurement
Thisexperiment deals with the uncertainty in measurement. The techniques studied
here will be essential for the rest of this course. The issues are important in order to
arrive at good judgements in any field in which it is necessary to understand, not just
numerical results but also the uncertainties associated with those results. You will
also be introduced to Microsoft Excel, a spreadsheet program used extensively by
scientists to analyse data.

Key Practical Competencies

2.1 Identify uncertainties arising from measurement apparatus
2.2 Make measurements of acceptable numerical significance
2.3 Propagate experimental uncertainties
2.4 Consider the effects of error and uncertainty on experimental results
2.5 Identify changes to the experiment that will minimise uncertainty
2.6 Perform basic data analysis using Microsoft OfficeExcel.
2.7 Undertake experimental procedures in a safe manner

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 The Measurement Experiment

There is no such thing as a perfect measurement! All measurements have

uncertainties, no matter how hard we try to minimize them and therefore the result
computed from these measurements will also have some uncertainty. Your goal is to
be able to estimate the size of this uncertainty and report it along with experimental
results.

“Accuracy is telling the truth . . . Precision is telling the same story over and over
again”
Yiding Wang.

The issue of measurement has been a concern in many fields of science, and can
make even simple questions like the length of a piece of string difficult to answer.
Hereis a video which attempt to tackle this very question.

Accuracy
If a clock strikes twelve when the sun is exactly overhead, the clock is said to be
accurate. The measurement of the clock (12 o’clock) and the phenomena it is
supposed to measure (the sun located at zenith) are in agreement.

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However, this measurement is dependent on the clocks location within a time zone.
At the eastern edge of the time zone, the sun is directly overhead before noon while
at the western edge this occurs slightly after noon. At either edge of the time zone
the 12 o’clock reading does not agree with the phenomena of the sun being at the
zenith and we might complain that the clock is not accurate. However, in this case
the accuracy of the clock is affected by our system of time zones rather than by any
defect of the clock.

Further, ifwe define the clock at the centre of the time zone to be correct if it matches
the sun, wecan then define all the other clocks in that time zone to be correct if they
match the central clock. Hence, a clock in the east of a time zone that reads 11:30
when the sun is overhead would still be accurate if it agrees with the central clock; a
clock that reads 12:00 would not be accurate.

Accuracy refers to only the agreement between the measured value and the
expected value and this may or may not say something about the quality of the
measuring instrument. A stopped clock is accurate at least once each day!

Precision
Precision refers to the repeatability of measurement. It does not require us to know
the correct or true value. If each day for several years a clock reads exactly 3.20
when the sun is at the zenith, this clock is very precise. Since there are more than
thirty million seconds in a year this device is more precise than one part in one
million! That is a very fine clock indeed! Note that we do not need to consider the
complications of edges of time zones to decide that this is a good clock. The true
meaning of noon is not important because we only care that the clock is giving a
repeatable result.

Errors
Error refers to the disagreement between a measurement and the true or accepted
value. However,error is not that important in the discussion of scientific results.This
is because, as with accuracy, the true or correct value must be known in order to
discuss the error.

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The central objective of science is to discover new things. If they are new then the
true value is not known, so it is not possible to discuss the error. As such, students
are in an artificial situation. Theexperiments you perform are necessarily repetitions
of previous work, so the results are known. Students, therefore, often assume that
errorsoccur in every experiment. You should, however, assume that error is not a
consideration. Your group has done the best it can in the lab and you must account
for your results on that basis.

Do not write ‘human error’ as any part of your lab report. In our experience it is rarely
the source of experimental problems. Problems that produce bad laboratory results
are usually due to analysis errors. Look there first.

Uncertainty
Physics: Principles with Applications
Section 1.4: Measurement and Uncertainty; Significant Figures

Uncertainty, rather than error, is the important term to scientists as it allows them to
make completely certain statements. The uncertainty of a measured value is a range
around that value. Any repetition of the measurement will lie within this range which
is assigned by following established principles of uncertainty estimation.

Suppose you measured the length of your desk with a tape measure and the result
was 1.20 m. The true length is not known because you do not have complete
knowledge of the manufacture of the tape measure, and also you cannot see
microscopically to confirm that the edge of the table exactly matches the marks on

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the tape. Hence, you can neither discuss error, nor say with absolute certainty that
the length is 1.20 m.

If you have experience with tape measures, you might be sure that your tape
measure could not be stretched more than10 cmfrom its proper length. You could
probably be certain that the desk was not more than 10 centimetres different from
your measurement.You would then write:length = 1.20 0.05 m, i.e.:value,plus or
minus uncertainty.

If you do not have this experience, perhaps 30 cm would make you confident. You
could say that the desk is not longer than 1.35 m and not shorter than 1.05 m, and
make this statement with complete confidence. You would then write:length = 1.20
0.15 m.

It is alwayspossible to make a completely certain statement. At worst this might be

that the desk is not shorter than 0 m and not longer than 4 m (because it would not fit
the room). Although this measurement may be nearly useless, it is completely
certain!

Every measurement that you make in the laboratory should be stated with a
confidence intervaldetermined at the time that you record the data. The skill comes
in getting this interval (the uncertainty) to be as small as possible.

Unfortunately the terms error and uncertainty are often used interchangeably.
Whenever you encounter these terms, make sure you understand whether they refer
to accuracy or precision, or both.

Types of Uncertainties

Uncertainty in a measurement can arise from three possible origins:

 the measuring device
 the procedure by which you measure
 the observed quantity itself

Usually the largest of these will determine the uncertainty in your data.

Systematic Uncertainties

Systematic uncertainties always bias results in one direction. This means that the
result will consistently be too high or too low. These uncertainties are usually due to:

 Imperfections in the equipment

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For example: Suppose you still want to measure the length ofyour desk, but this
timeusing a metal ruler. The ruler has contracted due to the temperature in the room
and is, therefore, less than one metre long, so all the graduations on the ruler are
smaller than they should be. Your numerical value for the length of the table will
always be too large no matter how often or how carefully you measure.

 Improper or biased observation

For example: Parallax ‘error’. Thiscan occur whenever there is some distance
between the measuring scale and the indicator used to obtain a measurement. If the
observer's eye is not squarely aligned with the pointer and scale, the reading may be
too high or low

true value: 3.0 units



0 1 2 3 4 5 6

apparent value: 3.3 units

 Effects not taken into account

For example: an experiment on forces and acceleration in which friction in the setup
and is not taken into account.

By being aware of the possible sources of systematic uncertainty before an

experiment is performed, it may be possible to remove or correct for uncertainties
and compensate for weaknesses in the equipment.

Random Uncertainties

In contrast to systematic uncertainties, random uncertainties are unbiased, i.e.: it is

equally likely that an individual measurement is too high or too low. Therefore, most
measurements include an estimate of the random uncertainty. Since this is unbiased
it is noted by a ± sign.

Device Precision
Any measuring device is only as accurate as the precision of the manufacturing
process allows.

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 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Two rulers from the same manufacturer are depicted above. While exaggerated in
this case, differences will always be part of any manufacturing process. Most
manufacturers of quality instruments adhere to a convention about the precision of
their devices: the uncertainty is assumed to be half the smallest scale division. This
means thatin comparing the two rulers above, the difference in length should never
be greater than 0.05 units.

However, no measurement with these rulerscan be assumed to be more accurate

than 0.05 units. If theserulers were more accurate than 0.05 units, the manufacturer
would have included scale divisions between the 0.1 unit graduations shown.

In general, when making a single measurement, assign half the smallest scale
division as the uncertainty.

Graduated Scales
On many occasions measuring devices have scales that are coarser than the ability
of our eyes to measure. In these cases we must estimate between the graduations.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

In the figure above, thelengthof the object is greater than 3.2 units and smaller than
3.3 units. We assume as an upper bound of our uncertainty, an amount equal to half
this width (in this case 0.1 units). Therefore, the final result can be reported as 3.25 ±
0.05 units

Digital Displays
When a device has a digital readout, manufacturers indicate the precision by the
number of digits displayed. The general rule is that the instrument is accurate to ±
the least significant figure displayed, however,the most reputable manufacturers
keep the uncertainty to half of the least significant figure.Unless you know that a

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particular instrument is of high enough quality, it is not safe to assume the higher
level of precision.

Multiple Measurements
The random uncertainty of measurement means that several measurements of a
quantity will not always come out the same but will spread around a mean value. In
fact, if you do not get a spread in values, you probably need to improve your
measurements by using a finer scale.

The mean value will be much closer to the ‘real’ value than any individual
measurement.

The mean value is calculated using the relationship:

mean=
∑x
N equation 1

where: x are the individual measurements

N is the number of measurements

The mean can be expressed to one significant figure more than the individual
measurements.

When making repeated measurements, each trial should be independent of the

previous one as much as possible. There are various ways of doing this, for
example:

 have different people make the measurement

 use several different devices (e.g.: new rulers).

Each set of measurements you make should include an estimate of the uncertainty
of those values. There are several methods which can be used to estimate this
uncertainty.

2/3 Method
If we find the interval around the mean that contains about 2/3 of the measured
points, half the size of this interval is a good estimate of the uncertainty. For
example: The following values of a specific quantity are measured:

1.7, 1.8, 2, 2.1, 2.1, 2.3

The mean value is 2.0.

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 mean

1.7 1.8 2.0 2.1 2.1 2.3

range containing 2/3 of the values, i.e. : 4 of 6 values

The interval from 1.8 to 2.1 includes 4 of the 6 values. The range of these values is
0.3 (ie2.1 – 1.8 = 0.3). We estimate the uncertainty to be ± half the range. The result
is that the best estimate of the quantity is 2.0 (the mean)± 0.15 (the uncertainty of a
single measurement).

Note that this method is a simple “rule of thumb”. Calculation of a standard deviation
(SD) isthe proper mathematical procedure for obtaining theuncertainty in a number
of measured values. The format "value 1 SD" means that if you repeat the
measurement, 68% of the time your new measurement will fall in this interval. The
2/3 method is a good approximation because 2/3 (66.67%) is very close to 68% (the
range of ± a standard deviation).

The value of the standard deviation for the above example is 0.2.

Square-Root Method

For inherently random phenomena we measure only a single number (N) of events
or objects etc. For example, this kind of measurement is relevant to counting the
number of radioactive decays (N) in a specific time interval from a sample of
material. It is also relevant to counting the number of Crows supporters(N) in a
random sample of the population. The absolute uncertainty of such a single
measurement is estimated as the square root of N.

For example, if we measure 50 radioactive decays in 1 second we should present

the result as 50 ±7 decays per second. The quoted uncertainty indicates that a
subsequent measurement could easily result in counts from 43 - 57.

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Relative and Absolute Uncertainty

There are two ways to record uncertainties:

 the absolute value of the uncertainty, e.g.5.1 ±0.3 mm

 the uncertainty relative to the mean value, e.g.: 5.1mm ± 5.88%

relative uncertainty = x 100 equation 2

The number 0.3 mm is the absolute uncertainty and has the same units as the mean
value (mm).

5.88% is the relative uncertainty and has no units since it is the ratio of two lengths.
It tells you immediately that the uncertainty is ~6% of the measured value.

Relative uncertainty is important when comparing the accuracy of different

measurements. For example, if we limit ourselves to 0.1 percent accuracy we know
the length of a metreruler to 1 mm, of a bridge 1000 metres long to 1 metre, and the
distance to the sun (149.60 million km) to no better than 149 600km.

Propagation of uncertainties

Often, you are not directly interested in a measured value, but want to use it in a
formula to calculate another quantity. In many cases, you will measure many of the
quantities in the formula and each has an associated uncertainty. In these cases the
uncertainties need to be propagated to obtain a well-defined uncertainty on a
computed quantity.

Whenquantities are added or subtracted, theabsoluteuncertainties must always be

added (never subtracted) to obtain the absolute uncertainty of the computed
quantity.

When quantities are multiplied or divided, the relativeuncertainties are added (never
subtracted!) to give the relative uncertainty of the computed quantity.

Note that uncertainties on quantities used in a mathematical relationship always

increase the uncertainty on the result. The quantity with the largest uncertainty
usually dominates the final result. Often one quantity will have a much greater
uncertainty than all the others. In such cases, we can simply use the uncertainty in
this measurement as the final uncertainty.

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The above calculation of the uncertainty actually overestimates it. The correct
procedure involves evaluating the square root of the sum of the squares. However,
at this stage the method above is adequate.

Microsoft Office Excel

Microsoft Office Excel is a spreadsheet program. Spreadsheet software helps

organize information, like alphabetising a list of names or reordering records
according to a numeric field. However, spreadsheets are more often used for
calculations, such as totalling a column of numbers or generating a more
sophisticated formula to calculate some mathematical or statistical measure on a list
of numbers.

To use the Excel program effectively there are some common terms which should be
understood:

Excel files are known as workbooks. Each can contain multiple sheets (pages).
Each sheet contains16,384 columns and 1,048,576 rows!

A worksheet is one page of an Excel spreadsheet document. The tabs at the bottom
of the spreadsheet tell you on which worksheet you are working. The image below
shows that worksheet 1 is active. You can change the name of a worksheet by
double clicking on the worksheet name. The text in the tab will become highlighted,
allowing you to make changes.

worksheet name

Cells are areas where you insert data,type formulas and display results. Each cell is
referenced byits unique position. Excel refers to columns with letters (A to Z, then
AA to AZ and continuing BB through to XFD).Rowsare referred to by numbers (1 to
1048576). These letters and numbers are called row and column headings. A cell
isaccessed by either clicking on it or by entering the column letter followed by the
row number into the cell name box(in the top right hand corner of the spreadsheet),
then pressing: Enter.

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 For example, the cell surrounded by bold lines in the image below, is cell A2,
because the cell lies at the intersection of column A and row 2. The “active” cell
reference is displayed in the cell name box.

cell reference in cell name box

rows
columns

cell A2

A formula is an equation in a worksheet. Formulas can perform mathematical

operations, such as addition and multiplication, or they can compare worksheet
values. Formulas can refer to constants (in case they are defined), or other cells on
the same worksheet.

formula bar

Each formula is entered and edited in the formula bar, located near the top of the
spread sheet.

Microsoft Excel also contains many predefined, or built-in, formulas, which are
known as functions. These can be used to perform simple or complex calculations.
You will learn about these as the functions are required.

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Pre-Lab
Write an aim for this experiment:
Measure the time it takes a pendulum to oscillate through a full cycle.

T =2 π
√ l
g
is the equation for the period of motion of the pendulum.
equation 3

where:  is the period of oscillation

l is the length of the pendulum
g is the gravitational acceleration

Rearrange this equation to solve for g.

g = ((4pi^2)(l))/t^2

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Experimental

In this experiment you will perform three tasks to practice the estimation of
uncertainty and the propagation of errors. These involve measuring the period of a
pendulum, measuring the reaction time of a human to a visual or audio stimulus.

Task One: The Pendulum

(For more information on the pendulum click here)

Physics: Principles with Applications

Section 11.4: The Simple Pendulum

Physics for Scientists and Engineers

Section 14.5: The Simple Pendulum
Section 14.6: The Physical Pendulum and the Torsion Pendulum

In this section you will measure the time it takes a pendulum to oscillate through a
full cycle and compare this with the theoretical prediction. Several methods of
measuring the period will be used to illustrate that different ways of making a
measurement can result in very different uncertainties. In each case, many
measurements will be taken to demonstrate the frequency of differing values.

Since a number of measurements need to be made, you should perform this

experiment in pairs with one student making measurements while the other records
the results.

Part A – Timing from the oscillation maximum

PROCEDURE
1. Start the pendulum oscillating from an arbitrary position.

2. Measure the period of the pendulum oscillation by starting and stopping the
stopwatch as the pendulum reaches its maximum position.

3. Repeat this measurement 24 times (i.e.: make 25 measurements) while trying

to start and stop the pendulum from the same position each time.

4. Enter these values into an Excel spreadsheet by following the instructions

below:

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5. Open a new Excel spreadsheet by double clicking on the Microsoft Office
Excel shortcut icon, located on your computer desktop.

6. In the cell A1 type the title “maximum” (short for timing from the oscillation
maximum)

7. Enter your values into the cells A2 to A26

You may notice that Excel discards trailing zeros. If you would
like your values to appear with 3 decimal places you can format
cells to do this. Select (by highlighting) the cells you wish to
format. Right click, then choose Format Cells, then: Number.
Select Number from the list and increase the number of
decimal places to 3. Click the OK box.

8. Type “mean” into cell A27

9. Calculate the mean period in your Excel spreadsheet (equation 1) by following

the instructions below.

10. Enter the following formulainto cell A28 to calculate the mean according to
equation 1.

=SUM(A2:A26)/25

 a range of cells is denoted (:), i.e.: the reference for the

cell in the upper-left corner of the range, a colon, and
then the reference to the cell in the lower-right corner of
the range are entered between a set of brackets.You can
select a range by clicking on the top value then dragging
down to the bottom value.

 SUM is a Excel function which adds each of the values

contained in a range.

Period at Maximum (seconds):

1.62 1.63 1.68
1.47 169 1.69
1.5 1.5 1.72
1.5 1.59 1.5
1.32 1.4 1.59
1.63 1.57 1.62
1.56 1.47 1.56
1.56 1.35 1.47

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1.15 Mean = 1.55

Question 1:How many significant figures can you use to express your mean value?
Explain why this is so.
3 significant figures. This is because we need them to hold the correct place
value for the significant digits.

11. Use the Excel Sort function to list your values in ascending order by following
the instructions below.

12. Highlight the cells A2 to A26.

13. Select Sort & Filter and select the Sort Smallest to Largest option.

14. Using your ordered values, estimate the uncertainty in the mean using the 2/3
method.

+/- 0.24

15. Express your mean as value ± uncertainty.

Mean ± Uncertainty: 1.55 +/- 0.24 seconds

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 Don’t forget to
use units

Question 2: What is the uncertainty of the stop watch? Does this uncertainty
account for the differences in your measurements?

Release point was slightly different in each measurement. No this

uncertainty does not account for the differences in measurement because it
has negligible uncertainty.

Question 3: The spread of values which is not caused by the uncertainty in the
measuring instrument must be caused by other factors. What causes the spread (or
range) in your measurements and what is the range numerically?

Human using stop watch causes uncertainty and error in measurements

because nobody can perfectly stop or start the watch at the expected time.

Part B – Timing from a background point

PROCEDURE
16. Start the pendulum oscillating.

17. Measure the period of the pendulum oscillation by starting and stopping the
stopwatch as the pendulum passes an arbitrary fixed point, such as a chair or
the leg of a table, when the pendulum is moving rapidly. Consider how this
may improve the precision of the measurements.

18. Repeat this measurement 24 times and record these in your Excel
spreadsheet in column B under the heading “background” (short for timing
from a background point).

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Period at Background (seconds)
1.4 1.53 1.37
1.78 1.4 1.47
1.53 1.38 1.31
1.5 1.54 1.47
1.44 1.59 1.32
1.59 1.56 1.47
1.43 1.47
1.31 1.5
1.35 1.41

If the Excel column is not wide enough to fit your text or

your values, you can widen it by placing the mouse on the
left hand edge of the column name. The mouse arrow will
become a double sided arrow. Click on the column edge
line and drag it to enlarge the width. Alternatively you can
double click the double sided arrow and the column will
automatically resize to fit its contents.

19. Determine the mean time for these values. To do this select cell A28 by
clicking on it.

20. Move the mouse over the bottom right hand corner of the cell until the mouse
arrow changes into a black cross. Then click and drag the cross across cell
B28. This will copy the formula from A28 to B28 but the formula will now be
relative to B28.

i.e.:
=SUM(A2:A26)/25

will become

=SUM(B2:B26)/25

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21. Sort your values into ascending order and calculate the uncertainty in the
mean once again using the 2/3 Method.

+/- 0.13

22. Express your mean as value ± uncertainty.

1.46 +/- 0.13 seconds

Mean± Uncertainty:

Question 4: It is likely that there will be a difference between the mean oscillations
determined using your two sets of measurements. Is the difference in mean
oscillations significant?Explain your answer.

0.09 seconds difference in mean value.

Question 5: It is likely that there will be a difference between the uncertainties in two
sets of measurements. What could be the causes of this difference?

The uncertainty should be less as the release point remained exactly

constant

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23. Measure the length of the pendulum from the pivot point to the centre of the
mass.

You are probably limited

in this measurement
because you need to
guess the location of the
centre of the mass.

24. Estimate the uncertainty in this measurement.

Length of Pendulum: 64.7 cm

Uncertainty in Length: 0.2 cm

25. In your Excel spreadsheet type “g” into cell A29.

26. Type an equation into cell A30 to determine gusing the value of themean
period. Record this formula below. (Hint: Pre-Lab)

((4π^2)(0.647))/1.5476^2

Note that:
 all formulas begin with =
 the * symbol is used to multiply values.
 the value of  is returned by entering PI()
 Excel follows the BODMAS (BEDMAS) order of
operations
 brackets are used to alter the order of operations

27. Copy your formula into cell B29 to determine the value of g for your second
set of data.

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Question 6: To how many significant figures can you express your values for g?
Explain your answer.
2 significant figures as gravities true value is 9.8 (two figures)

value of g (maximum): 10 m/s^2

value of g (point): 12 m/s^2

28. Using the uncertainties in your measurements of length and time determine
the uncertainty in your values for g for Part A and Part B.

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Question 7:The accepted value of g is 9.8 ms-2. Using your mean values from Part A
and Part B how do your values of g compare with the accepted value?

Part A: g=10m/s^2 So, Difference with accepted value=0.2m/s^2

Part B: g=12m/s^2 So, Difference with accepted value=2.2m/s^2
Hence, first part is closer to the accepted value.

Question 8:Are either of your values more accurate than the other? Explain your
answer.

Yes, the value from first part is more accurate as compare to the value from
part 2 because first value of ‘g’ is closer to the accepted value of ‘g’ i.e.
9.8m/s^2.

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Part C:Alternative Way in Measuring the Period of the Pendulum:
Using a sensor to make measurements.

You are provided with a Vernier Go-Direct Force and Acceleration Sensor that can
be attached to the pendulum. This device will transmit data via Bluetooth to your
bench computer. The aim is to compare the period of the pendulum measured using
one or more of the available sensor functions with values recorded simultaneously
with a stopwatch.

PROCEDURE
1. Check that the pendulum is firmly attached to the rotating shaft. Move the whole
assembly downwards so that the bob is close to the floor.
2. Place a protective mat (e.g. plastic packing) on the floor below the bob.
3. Switch on the sensor unit by pressing the “power” button (right).
4. Open “Vernier Graphical Analysis 4” on the bench computer.
5. Click on the icon labelled “Sensor Data collection”.
6. Click on the device ID that matches the one printed on your sensor unit.
7. Select “SENSOR CHANNELS”, check that “Force” is selected and select “X-axis
acceleration” also. Click “Done”.
8. Click on the graph/table icon (right) and select for two graphs.
9. Click on the vertical title for each graph and match it to a sensor channel.
10. Hang the sensor by its loop on the screw protruding from the pendulum bob,
putting the wire in the gap between the screw head and the bob.
11. Carefully set the pendulum going with a modest amplitude (e.g. ±20 cm
horizontally).
12. Click “Collect” to collect a set of data. At the same time record the period using a
stopwatch (as done earlier in the practical).
13. Click the magnifier symbol (right) to get an appropriate scale.
14. Read the period from the graphs on the screen, or click “Untitled” and
export the data to a .csv file to determine the period using Excel.
15. Compare the stopwatch and sensor measurements of the period:

Stopwatch measurement: 1.47 seconds

Sensor measurement:
1.5

Do you get agreement between the two measurements? Explain any discrepancies.

I.) Using a tracker.

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Part D: Alternative Way in Measuring the Period of the Pendulum:
Using an imaging system to make measurements.

Here we will use an imaging system to track the pendulum and measure the period
from the record of its motion.
PROCEDURE
1. Position the tripod on the floor so that the webcam is pointing at the pendulum.
2. Ensure that the webcam is plugged into a USB port on the computer.
3. On the computer, open the “Live Tracker” program: Select LiveTracker,
LiveTracker64 in the program menu. Wait for a picture to appear.
4. Swing the pendulum and reposition the camera so that the target remains in the
field of view as the pendulum swings.
5. Stop the pendulum moving and click on “Start”. Wait for the background
subtraction to activate.
6. Swing the pendulum again and ensure that the application is following the motion
of the target. (A small red circle indicates the detected position.)
7. Press record. Also record the period of the pendulum with a stopwatch.
8. Stop recording. Note the location of the data file. Answer “no” to adding a scale,
then click on “stop” in the lower left corner of the screen.
9. Click on the data file.
10. Close the GenAIEx window. If no data is seen in the Excel window, click on the
data file again. (You may have to reduce the size of the Excel window, by
clicking “-“at the top right.)
11. Save the Excel file to your own space. (The desktop is an option.)
12. Plot a graph of the recorded data.
13. Determine the period of the pendulum and compare it with the stopwatch
measurement:

Stopwatch measurements: 1.5

Live tracker measurements:

1.57

Do the stopwatch and Live Tracker measurements agree?

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 Yes.

Question 9:Describe how you can identify the data points in your graph a) at which
the phone reaches maximum height and b) at which the phone passes through the
same point other than the point of maximum height.

Question 10:What is the period using method a) and method b) from Question 9?
Describe how you have determined the accuracy of the measurement of the period.

Method a : period 5
Method b : period 14
The accuracy of the measurement if the period is determined by using a
stopwatch and the tracker with the camera.

Question 11:Compare the results from your stopwatch measurements and the
tracker measurements. Which method is more accurate and why?
There is a difference of 0.07 seconds in between the time of tracker and
stopwatch .Of course, the tracker is more accurate Its basically because of
the human errors while stopping and resetting the stopwatch.

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TaskTwo: Reaction Times
In this section you will study the delay between receiving either visual or audio
stimuli and the response of the movement of your finger to stop a time counter.
Students are required to perform the experiment in pairs but should retain their own
data.

PROCEDURE
30. Make yourselves familiar with operation of the timer, the selection of visual
and/or audio stimuli.

31. Select an appropriate time resolution range. Record this value.

1ms
Time resolution:

Question 9:Why did you choose your time resolution range?

To get a more accurate time

32. One student (the Operator) presses the start button which simultaneously
starts the time counter and produces a light or sound pulse, or both. The
Operator should try to trick the subject, by concealing the operation of the
start button and varying the delay between events, as the other student (the
Subject) must not know when the stimulus will occur.

33. The Subject presses the stop button which stops the time counter, hence
measuring reaction time. The Subjects first few attempts will show a rapid
improvement as the process is learned. Once the delay times become more
constant you can start your series of measurements.

34. Select the LED indicator (light only).

35. Perform the experiment 10 times and enter your results into your Excel
spreadsheet under the heading “Light” in column D.

36. Select the Beeper indicator (sound only).

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37. Perform the experiment 10 times and enter your results into your Excel
spreadsheet under the heading “Sound” in column E.
38. Select the both indicators (light and sound).
39. Perform the experiment 10 times and enter your results into your Excel
spreadsheet under the heading “both” in column F.
40. The Operator and Subject should now swap roles and repeat the experiment.

Light Only Sound Only Light and Sound

0.231 0.142 0.138
0.162 0.157 0.122
0.221 0.197 0.135
0.173 0.144 0.137
0.167 0.156 0.126
0.258 0.155 0.164
0.207 0.199 0.134
0.174 0.15 0.12
0.139 0.163 0.12
0.16 0.146 0.076

41. Calculate the mean reaction time for each series of measurements by writing
a formula in Excel. If you have a few values that are far off from all the other
values (e.g.: because you were irritated or distracted) you may decide to
ignore them when you calculate your reaction time, but note in your report
book which points were not used.

42. Use the 2/3 method to obtain the uncertainty in your measurements.

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43. Record your reaction times as value ± uncertainty.

Light only: 0.1892+/-0.059

mean ± uncertainty

Sound only 0.1529+/-0.013

mean ± uncertainty:

Light and Sound 0.1262+/-0.017

mean ± uncertainty

Question 10:Are your reaction times different for the different stimuli or are they
within experimental uncertainty?

Yes the reaction time is different for different stimuli.

Question 11:Are your uncertainties different for the different stimuli?

Yes the uncertainties are different for different stimuli,

Question 12:What causes the uncertainty in these measurements?

Human reaction to light , sound and both at same time.

Question 13: Are there ways in which you could reduce the uncertainty in this
experiment?

No,

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Conclusion
From this experiment we learnt to measure the time it takes a pendulum to
oscillate through a full cycle and study the delay between receiving either
visual or audio stimuli and the response of the movement of your finger to
stop a time counter

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