In an experiment for this unit, theory predicts that the time take for a mass to roll down a slope will be 2.75 ± 0.05 s. Your repeated measurements of the speed gives a value of 2.40 ± 0.05 s. Are your measurements consistent with the theory?

In an experiment for this unit you measure the mass of a filled beaker to be 1.5 ± 0.1 kg. You can assume the likelihood the “true value” of the mass lies between 1.3 kg and 1.7 kg is:

For an experiment in this unit, you measure the length of a spring, with a mass hanging from it, using a metre ruler with mm markings. As your estimate of the standard uncertainty:

You take 49 repeated measurements of how long it takes a bicycle wheel, that starts from rest, to make one full rotation, when driven by a falling weight attached to the wheel. The standard uncertainty in this measurement is (where s is the sample standard deviation of the repeated measurements):

In taking multiple measurements of the same quantity, you take a measurement that is significantly different from all your other measurements, you believe it to be an “outlier”. What do you do with the value of this measurement?

If the measurement of a time period is stated as 30.0 ± 0.9 s then the percentage uncertainty in this measurement is:

A physics student in this unit wishes to report the final result of their experiment. Which of the following statements of this result is formatted correctly?

You use a stopwatch to take repeated measurements of the time it takes a ball, from rest, to roll a fixed distance down a slope.  As your best estimate of the time the ball actually takes to roll this distance you should:

The world record for the 100m sprint, held by Usain Bolt, is 9.58 seconds.

With this information alone, i.e. without using extra information about the accuracy of Olympic sprint track timing and distances, which of the following is the correct statement about his average speed and its uncertainty?

Hint I: The average speed can be calculated from v = d/t.

Hint II: For given data where no other uncertainty information is provided, a reasonable estimate of the uncertainty will generally be:

            ½ (last significant figure)

This means that you should take the distance to be d = 100.0 ± 0.5 m and the time to be t = 9.580 ± 0.005 s.

Hint III: Refer to the section on combining uncertainties in the Guide to Experimental Work.

The following data is recorded for the oscillation period of a pendulum

The average value is 5.29 s, what is the absolute uncertainty in seconds? For the purpose of this quiz, do not include the unit in your answer, just the numerical value.

Hint: you might find it useful to open an Excel spreadsheet to answer this.