Okayfirstly,DONOTwriteaboutreactiontime,repeatreadings,micrometer,orparallaxbecause

examinerswillnotgivemarksfortheseerrors.
Here'salinkthatmighthelpyouforpracticals:
http://mypages.iit.edu/~rcoleman/apmanual.html
Oscillations
*Perform3setsofmeasurementsforeachdifferentoscillation,(youwillgetmoremarksifyoudo2sets
ofrepeats).
*Measureatleast30periodsintotal.
*Preferablymakeeachmeasurement20periodslong.
*Precaution:minimizeoscillationsinanyotherplaneotherthantheonebeingobserved
*Alwayswritetimestotwod.p.,nevertothenearestsecond.
*Precaution:dosmallamplitudeoscillations
*Precaution:saythatyoudidseveralperiodsatoncetominimizereactiontimeerrors.
Moments
*Precaution:balancetherulerbeingusedfirst.
*Usedistancesfromthepivotofgreaterthan25cm(250mm).
*Weightheunknownandknownmassesinyourhandsbeforeusingtheruler,andplacethelighter
massasfarfromthepivotaspossible.
*Measuredistancesfromthepivottothecentreofmassoftheobject.
*Allmeasurementsshouldbeto1mmaccuracy.
*Tomakesuretheruleisbalanced,pulleachenddown.Ifitcomesupagainthentherulemusthave
equalmomentsactingonitoneitherend.

DensityMeasurements
*Whenusingamicrometer,onefullrotationofthebarrelis0.5mm(50onthebarrelscale).
*Themicrometerreadsto0.01mmaccuracy.
*Verniercaliperscanreadto0.05mmaccuracy.However,itisadvisabletoquotethefigureto0.1mm
accuracy,asthiswillgivealargeruncertainty,whichwillmakecomparisonsinlaterpartsofthe
questioneasier.
*Ifmeasuringaverysmalldimension,measureseveral"thicknesses"ofit.Remembertodividebythe
numberofthicknessesafterthemeasurement!
*Precaution:checkthezeroerroronthemicrometerand/orVerniercalipers.Wipethejawsofthe
micrometertoremovegrease.
*Giveanswersto2or3s.f.:itismeaninglesstowrite,forexample,"densityis7785.654kgm3"!
*Alwaystakeatleast3readingsforeachmeasurement,andtakeanaverage.
*Whenmeasuringstringdiametersorfoilthicknesses(orsimilar),useaminimumof10thicknesses.

Uncertainties

*%Uncertainty=
*Whenmultiplyingordividingquantities,addtheir%uncertaintiestogether.
*Whenaddingorsubtractingquantities,addtheirabsoluteerrorstogether,thendividebytheresultof
theaddition/subtractionofthemeasurement,e.g.for,where,and,theabsoluteerrorsadded=0.102
mm.Thereforethe%uncertaintyis:
*Ifyouhavetocalculatetheerrorin,e.g.,theabsoluteerrorindmustbemultipliedbypiandthen
addedtotheabsoluteerrorinx.Thepercentageuncertaintyisthistotalerrordividedbythecalculated
andtheresultmultipliedby100.
*Ifameasurementistoberaisedtoapower,thenmultiplythe%uncertaintyinthemeasurementby
thepowertogetthe%uncertaintyintheoverallterm.
*Iftwovalues,forsay,adensityareavailable,calculatethe%differencebetweenthem.Ifavalueis
givenbytheexaminer,thenusethisasthe"correct"value,andcalculatethe%differencethefollowing
way:wherexisyourmeasuredvalue,andcistheexaminer'svalue.Ifyouhaveobtainedtwovalues,then
theexpressionchanges:wherex1andx2areyourmeasuredvalues,andisthemedianofthetwo,(not
necessarilythemean!).
*Comparethe%differencewithyour%uncertainty.Anyrelationshipsuggested,suchasthatthetwo
densitiesshouldbeequal,canbeconsideredcorrectifyour%differenceislessthanyour%uncertainty.
Thiswillgainyoumarks!
*Ifyour%uncertaintieslooksmall,checkthatyouhavemultipliedby100!
ElectricalExperiments
*Withcapacitordischarges,eithertakereadingsevery5secondsforthefirstpartofthedischarge,orI
thinkthatevery10secondsissufficient.
*Ifarangeisspecifiedoverwhichyoushouldtakemeasurements,donotexceedit:youwillbe
penalised.
*Withananalogueammeter,usethetopscale.Thisreads(generally),from20,to0,to10.Thesearein
factdivisionsof10mA,andthemeteractuallyreadsfrom20to100mA.Ifyouareoutbyafactorof
10,(e.g.yougetacalculatedcellvoltageof0.15V),checkthatyouhavereadthemetercorrectly.Always
rememberthatthepolarityonthemetermustbecorrect.
*Anysmalldiscrepancyinyourresultscanbeexplainedby"electricalresistanceatthecontactsinthe
circuit".
*Withmostelectricalexperimentwhereacurvewillbeobtained(e.g.theV/Icharacteristicofadiode),
9pointsonasmoothcurvearesufficient.
Graphs
*Withanygraph,aminimumof6to8pointsareneeded,andyoumusthaveatleast4pointsona
curve.
*Whenmeasuringthegradientofagraph,carryyourtangentontothesidesofthegraphpaper,
howeverbigyourgraph.Thetriangleyouuseshouldbegreaterthan10cminlengthandheight,
althoughinsomemarkschemes100cm2isfine.
*Yourgraphdoesnothavetogothroughtheorigin.Ifthedatadoesnotindicatethatitdoesso,donot
forceitto.Commentonthefactthattheremusthavebeenasystematicerror.

*Whenchoosingvaluestoreadofagraph,itisbettertotakethemfromthemiddlepartofthecurve,as
thisiswhereyouwillhavemorepointsperchangeinycoordinate.
*Whendescribingyour"plan"inExperimentC,statethatthegraphyouplotwillbeastraightline
throughtheorigin(ifthisisthecase!),ofgradient=toanexpressionwhichwillhelpyouconfirmthe
relationshipsuggestedbytheexaminer.
*Turningpointsongraphsrequireatleast4points.
*Ifpointsneartheorigindeviatesubstantiallyfromyourlineofbestfit,pointoutthatforsmall
measurementsthereisagreateruncertainty.
ExperimentsInvolvingTemperature
*Readingsshouldbeaccuratetofractionsofadegree.
*Stiranyliquidbeingheated.
*Insulatetheapparatusifpossible.
*Thethermometershouldnotbetouchingthesidesofthecontaineritisin,andshouldbeinthe
middleoftheliquidyouaremeasuringthetemperatureof.
*Precaution:readthethermometerateyeleveltoavoidparallaxerror.
*Thebulbofthethermometershouldbecompletelysubmerged.
*Commentontheresultobtainedbeingtherightorderofmagnitude.
Thankstouserforthis:

*HowtouseaVernierCaliper
http://www.animatedscience.co.uk/00introductiontogcephysics

*Theuncertaintyonaverniercaliperiseither0.1mmor0.01cm.
*Thesmallestvalueonanewtonmeterisusually0.2Nsoitsuncertaintywillbe0.1N

*Oneoftheageoldprecautionandimprovementineverypaperisthat2valuesorreadingarenot
sufficientforaconclusion.Itsimprovementwillbetakeasetofreadingsandplotagraph.
*Wheneveryou'regiventwovaluesofkandaskediftherelationisproportional,ifthedifferenceis
within10%thenitisproportional.
Hopethathelps.