Uncertainties Flashcards
Types of data
- Qualitative data
- Quantitative data
Qualitative data
- categoric data
- observations
Quantitative data
measurements made during a practical will always have errors (due to humans) and uncertainties (due to equipment)
Uncertainties
- due to equipment
- should be recorded in table headings
What does precision rely on?
all to do with equipment and how many decimal places you record your results to
Types of errors
- Systematic errors
- Random errors
Systematic errors
Occur due to the experiment method
Random errors
can be eliminated by repeating experiments and discarding odd results
% error
% error in your value compared to the literature value should be calculated
Literature value
True value
Total % uncertainty
Total % uncertainty due to the equipment should be calculated and then the uncertainty in the final value should be calculated
What to do to the uncertainty when finding the difference between 2 readings
Multiply the uncertainty by 2
How to calculate the % error
Difference in experimental and true value/true value
x100
Precision definition
How close a repeated set of data are to eachother
Accuracy definition
how close your calculated value is to the literature value
