3/20/2016

IBPhysicsNotes1.2Measurementanduncertainties
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1Physicsandphysical
measurement
The realm of physics
Measurement & uncertainties
Vectors & scalars

2Mechanics
Kinematics
Forces & dynamics
Work, energy & power
Uniform circular motion

NaturalSciences

Mathematics

TheArts

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Measurement and uncertainties

1.2.1 State the fundamental units in the SI system.
Manydifferenttypesofmeasurementsaremadeinphysics.Inordertoprovideaclearandconcisesetofdata,aspecific
systemofunitsisusedacrossallsciences.ThissystemiscalledtheInternationalSystemofUnits(SIfromtheFrench
"SystmeInternationald'units").
TheSIsystemiscomposedofsevenfundamentalunits:

4Oscillationsandwaves
Kinematics of simple harmonic motion
SHM
Energy changes during simple harmonic
motion SHM
Forced oscillations & resonance
Wave characteristics
Wave properties

SocialSciences

Figure 1.2.1 The fundamental SI units

Quantity

Unit name Unit symbol

mass

kilogram

kg

time

second

length

meter

temperature

kelvin

Electric current

ampere

Amount of substance mole

mol

Luminous intensity

cd

candela

Notethatthelastunit,candela,isnotusedintheIBdiplomaprogram.

1.2.2 Distinguish between fundamental and derived units and give examples of derived units.
InordertoexpresscertainquantitieswecombinetheSIbaseunitstoformnewones.Forexample,ifwewantedtoexpress
aquantityofspeedwhichisdistance/timewewritem/s(or,morecorrectlyms1).Forsomequantities,wecombinethe
sameunittwiceormore,forexample,tomeasureareawhichislengthxwidthwewritem2.
CertaincombinationsorSIunitscanberatherlongandhardtoread,forthisreason,someofthesecombinationshavebeen
givenanewunitandsymbolinordertosimplifythereadingofdata.
Forexample:power,whichistherateofusingenergy,iswrittenaskgm2s3.Thiscombinationisusedsooftenthatanew
unithasbeenderivedfromitcalledthewatt(symbol:W).
BelowisatablecontainingsomeoftheSIderivedunitsyouwilloftenencounter:

Table 1.2.2 SI derived units

SI derived unit Symbol SI base unit Alternative unit
newton

kg m s2

joule

kg m2s2

Nm

hertz

Hz

s1

watt

kg m2s3
2 3

J s1
1

volt

kg m s A W A1

ohm

kg m2s3A2 V A1

pascal

Pa

kg m1s2

N m2

1.2.3 Convert between different units of quantities.

Often,weneedtoconvertbetweendifferentunits.Forexample,ifweweretryingtocalculatethecostofheatingalitreof
waterwewouldneedtoconvertbetweenjoules(J)andkilowatthours(kWh),astheenergyrequiredtoheatwaterisgiven
injoulesandthecostoftheelectricityusedtoheatthewaterisacertainpriceperkWh.
Ifwelookattable1.2.2,wecanseethatonewattisequaltoajoulepersecond.Thismakesiteasytoconvertfromjoules
towatthours:thereare60secondinaminutesand60minutesinanhour,therefor,1Wh=60x60J,andonekWh=1

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IBPhysicsNotes1.2Measurementanduncertainties
Wh/1000(thekinkWhbeingaprefixstandingforkilowhichis1000).

1.2.4 State units in the accepted SI format.

Thereareseveralwaystowritemostderivedunits.Forexample:meterspersecondcanbewrittenasm/sorms1.Itis
importanttonotethatonlythelatter,ms1,isacceptedasavalidformat.Therefor,youshouldalwayswritemetersper
second(speed)asms1andmeterspersecondpersecond(acceleration)asms2.Notethatthisappliestoallunits,notjust
thetwostatedabove.

1.2.5 State values in scientific notation and in multiples of units with appropriate prefixes.
Whenexpressinglargeorsmallquantitiesweoftenuseprefixesinfrontoftheunit.Forexample,insteadofwriting10000V
wewrite10kV,wherekstandsforkilo,whichis1000.Wedothesameforsmallquantitiessuchas1mVwhichisequalto
0,001V,mstandingformillimeaningonethousandth(1/1000).
Whenexpressingtheunitsinwordsratherthansymbolswesay10kilowattsand1milliwatt.
Atableofprefixesisgivenonpage2ofthephysicsdatabooklet.

1.2.6 Describe and give examples of random and systematic errors.

Randomerrors
Arandomerror,isanerrorwhichaffectsareadingatrandom.
Sourcesofrandomerrorsinclude:
The observer being less than perfect
The readability of the equipment
External effects on the observed item
Systematicerrors
Asystematicerror,isanerrorwhichoccursateachreading.
Sourcesofsystematicerrorsinclude:
The observer being less than perfect in the same way every time
An instrument with a zero offset error
An instrument that is improperly calibrated

1.2.7 Distinguish between precision and accuracy.

Precision
Ameasurementissaidtobeaccurateifithaslittlesystematicerrors.

Accuracy
Ameasurementissaidtobepreciseifithaslittlerandomerrors.
Ameasurementcanbeofgreatprecisionbutbeinaccurate(forexample,iftheinstrumentusedhadazerooffseterror).

1.2.8 Explain how the effects of random errors may be reduced.

Theeffectofrandomerrorsonasetofdatacanbereducedbyrepeatingreadings.Ontheotherhand,becausesystematic
errorsoccurateachreading,repeatingreadingsdoesnotreducetheiraffectonthedata.

1.2.9 Calculate quantities and results of calculations to the appropriate number of significant
figures.
Thenumberofsignificantfiguresinaresultshouldmirrortheprecisionoftheinputdata.Thatistosay,whendividingand
multiplying,thenumberofsignificantfiguresmustnotexceedthatoftheleastprecisevalue.
Example:
Findthespeedofacarthattravels11.21metersin1.23seconds.
11.21x1.13=13.7883
Theanswercontains6significantfigures.However,sincethevaluefortime(1.23s)isonly3s.f.wewritetheansweras
13.7ms1.
Thenumberofsignificantfiguresinanyanswershouldreflectthenumberofsignificantfiguresinthegivendata.

1.2.10 State uncertainties as absolute, fractional and percentage uncertainties.

Absoluteuncertainties
Whenmarkingtheabsoluteuncertaintyinapieceofdata,wesimplyadd1ofthesmallestsignificantfigure.

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IBPhysicsNotes1.2Measurementanduncertainties
Example:
13.21m0.01
0.002g0.001
1.2s0.1
12V1
Fractionaluncertainties
Tocalculatethefractionaluncertaintyofapieceofdatawesimplydividetheuncertaintybythevalueofthedata.
Example:
1.2s0.1
Fractionaluncertainty:
0.1/1.2=0.0625
Percentageuncertainties
Tocalculatethepercentageuncertaintyofapieceofdatawesimplymultiplythefractionaluncertaintyby100.
Example:
1.2s0.1
Percentageuncertainty:
0.1/1.2x100=6.25%

1.2.11 Determine the uncertainties in results.

Simplydisplayingtheuncertaintyindataisnotenough,weneedtoincludeitinanycalculationswedowiththedata.
Additionandsubtraction
Whenperformingadditionsandsubtractionswesimplyneedtoaddtogethertheabsoluteuncertainties.
Example:
Addthevalues1.20.1,12.010.01,7.210.01
1.2+12.01+7.21=20.42
0.1+0.01+0.01=0.12
20.420.12
Multiplication,divisionandpowers
Whenperformingmultiplicationsanddivisions,or,dealingwithpowers,wesimplyaddtogetherthepercentage
uncertainties.
Example:
Multiplythevalues1.20.1,12.010.01
1.2x12.01=14
0.1/1.2x100=8.33%
0.01/12.01X100=0.083%
8.33+0.083=8.413%
148.413%
Otherfunctions
Forotherfunctions,suchastrigonometricones,wecalculatethemean,highestandlowestvaluetodeterminethe
uncertaintyrange.Todothis,wecalculatearesultusingthegivenvaluesasnormal,withaddederrormarginand
subtractederrormargin.Wethencheckthedifferencebetweenthebestvalueandtheoneswithaddedandsubtracted
errormarginandusethelargestdifferenceastheerrormarginintheresult.
Example:
Calculatetheareaofafieldifit'slengthis121mandwidthis70.2m.
Bestvalueforarea:
12x7=84m2
Highestvalueforarea:
13x7.2=93.6m2
Lowestvalueforarea:
11x6.8=74.8m2
Ifweroundthevalueswegetanareaof:
8410m2

1.2.12 Identify uncertainties as error bars in graphs.

Whenrepresentingdataasagraph,werepresentuncertaintyinthedatapointsbyaddingerrorbars.Wecanseethe
uncertaintyrangebycheckingthelengthoftheerrorbarsineachdirection.Errorbarscanbeseeninfigure1.2.1below:

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Figure1.2.1Agraphwitherrorbars

1.2.13 State random uncertainty as an uncertainty range and represent it graphically as an

"error bar".
InIBphysics,errorbarsonlyneedtobeusedwhentheuncertaintyinoneorbothoftheplottedquantitiesaresignificant.
Errorbarsarenotrequiredfortrigonometricandlogarithmicfunctions.
Toadderrorbarstoapointonagraph,wesimplytaketheuncertaintyrange(expressedas"value"inthedata)anddraw
linesofacorrespondingsizeaboveandbeloworoneachsideofthepointdependingontheaxisthevaluecorrespondsto.
Example:
Plotthefollowingdataontoagraphtakingintoaccounttheuncertainty.

Time 0.2 s Distance 2 m

3.4

13

5.1

36

64

Table1.2.1DistancevsTimedata

Figure1.2.2Distancevs.timegraphwitherrorbars
Inpractice,plottingeachpointwithitsspecificerrorbarscanbetimeconsumingaswewouldneedtocalculatethe

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IBPhysicsNotes1.2Measurementanduncertainties
uncertaintyrangeforeachpoint.Therefor,weoftenskipcertainpointsandonlyadderrorbarstospecificones.Wecanuse
thelistofrulesbelowtosavetime:
Add error bars only to the first and last points
Only add error bars to the point with the worst uncertainty
Add error bars to all points but use the uncertainty of the worst point
Only add error bars to the axis with the worst uncertainty

1.2.14 Determine the uncertainties in the gradient and intercepts of a straight line graph.
Gradient
Tocalculatetheuncertaintyinthegradient,wesimplyadderrorbarstothefirstandlastpoint,andthendrawastraight
linepassingthroughthelowesterrorbaroftheonepointsandthehighestintheotherandviceversa.Thisgivestwolines,
onewiththesteepestpossiblegradientandonewiththeshallowest,wethencalculatethegradientofeachlineand
compareittothebestvalue.Thisisdemonstratedinfigure1.2.3below:

Figure1.2.3Gradientuncertaintyinagraph
Intercept
Tocalculatetheuncertaintyintheintercept,wedothesamethingaswhencalculatingtheuncertaintyingradient.This
timehowever,wecheckthelowest,highestandbestvaluefortheintercept.Thisisdemonstratedinfigure1.2.4below:

Figure1.2.4Interceptuncertaintyinagraph

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Notethatinthetwofiguresabovetheerrorbarshavebeenexaggeratedtoimprovereadability.

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