Unit B: Measurement

Practice


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  1. State the precision and uncertainty for each of the following measurements.

    Measurement Tool
    		Measurement Precision Uncertainty
    thermometer 36°C
    micrometer 1.52 mm
    stopwatch 8.2 s

  1. Which task requires more precision: timing an Olympic speed skater or measuring the time it takes to travel from Edmonton to Calgary?

  2. State the measurements and uncertainties shown in the following devices:

    1. A multimeter is used to measure the voltage in volts.






    2. A blood pressure monitor records pressure in mmHg.





State the precision and uncertainty for each of the following measurements.

Measurement Tool
Measurement Precision Uncertainty
thermometer 36°C
micrometer 1.52 mm
stopwatch 8.2 s


Measurement Tool
Measurement Precision Uncertainty
thermometer 36°C 1°C 0.5°C
micrometer 1.52 mm
0.01 mm
0.005 mm
stopwatch 8.2 s
0.1 s
0.05 s
Which task requires more precision: timing an Olympic speed skater or measuring the time it takes to travel from Edmonton to Calgary?

More precision is required when timing an Olympic speed skater to determine the winner of a race. If the precision is off by one second, the gold medal winner cannot be determined.
State the measurements and uncertainties shown in the following devices:

  1. A multimeter is used to measure the voltage in volts.






  2. A blood pressure monitor records pressure in mmHg.






  1. The voltage is displayed to three decimal places. Therefore, the precision is 0.001 V and the uncertainty is 0.0005 V.

    uncertainty = precision 2 = 0 . 001   V 2 = 0 . 0005   V

    The measurement is 2.056 V ± 0.0005 V.

  2. The pressure is displayed to the nearest 2 mmHg. The precision is 2 mmHg and the uncertainty is 1 mmHg.

    uncertainty = precision 2 = 2   mmHg 2 = 1   mmHg

    The measurement is 129 mmHg ± 1 mmHg