There was a little confusion on how the uncertainty for momentum and the kinetic energies are

calculated. First, let’s look at momentum:

𝒑 = 𝑚𝒗
We see that momentum is the product of mass times the velocity of an object. Each of these values has
an uncertainty, which means there is an associated uncertainty for our momentum. The uncertainty for
momentum, 𝛿𝑝 can be calculated using the following formula.

𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑈𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝒑
𝑫𝑶𝑵′ 𝑻 𝑭𝑶𝑰𝑳 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑺‼‼‼ 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝒑
⏞ 𝛿𝑚 𝛿𝑣
𝒑=⏞
(𝑚 ± 𝛿𝑚 )(𝒗 ± 𝛿𝑣 ) = 𝑚𝒗
⏞ ± 𝛿𝑚 𝛿𝑣 ( + )
𝑚 |𝑣|
We can follow a pattern to find the uncertainty for kinetic energy as well.
𝑫𝑶𝑵′ 𝑻𝑭𝑶𝑰𝑳 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑺‼‼‼!
1
𝐾𝐸 = ⏞(𝑚 ± 𝛿𝑚 )(𝑣 ± 𝛿𝑣 )(𝑣±𝛿𝑣 )
2
𝐾𝐸 𝑈𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝐾𝐸
⏞
1 ⏞
1 𝛿𝑚 𝛿𝑣 𝛿𝑣
= (𝑚𝑣 2 ) ± 𝛿𝑚 𝛿𝑣 𝛿𝑣 ( + + )
2 2 𝑚 |𝑣| |𝑣|
𝐾𝐸 𝑈𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝐾𝐸
⏞2 ⏞
𝑚𝑣 𝛿𝑚 𝛿𝑣2 𝛿𝑚 𝛿𝑣
= ± ( +2 )
2 2 𝑚 |𝑣|
Do you see the pattern? This is the same as the equation for the value, except with the
variables replaced with the uncertainties of the variables.

This is what’s known as the fractional uncertainty of each variable. For each variable in the equation,
there will be a term here with the uncertainty divided by the variable. Since kinetic energy has a 𝑣 2 in it,
𝛿𝑣
we have two terms.
𝑣

If you’d like to test yourself, find the uncertainty for the following equation
𝑚1 𝑚2
𝐹𝐺 = 𝐺
𝑟2
where 𝐹𝐺 is the gravitational force felt between two objects with masses 𝑚1 and 𝑚2 at a distance of 𝑟
apart from each other. G is Newton’s gravitational constant (NOT the same as g). Answer on page 2.
You should get
𝛿𝐺 𝛿𝑚1 𝛿𝑚2 𝛿𝐺 𝛿𝑚1 𝛿𝑚2 𝛿𝑟
𝛿𝐹𝑔 = 2 ( + + +2 )
𝛿𝑟 𝐺 𝑚1 𝑚2 𝑟

(Even though G is a constant, there is still an uncertainty associated with it since it was found from
experiment)

John Gresl

10-25-2017