Error analysis in volume measurements
I use the attached worksheet to walk my high school physics students through the process of determining the percent error in a calculated measurement. After these calculations, students then determine the range of their final results (± x cm3). Finally, they look at the range and discover that use of the “sig figs” rules gives them about the same value as the left-most known digit (e.g. if the range is 556-564, and the number of sig figs is 2, the answer from either end is 5.6×102).
Here’s the worksheet: Error in Measuring objects mini lab (PDF format, 37 kb).
