Measurement and Calculations

Murphy’s Law 0 Captain Edward A. Murphy Jr. was an engineer in the Air Force.engineerAir Force 0 In 1949, officers were conducting tests to determine once and for all how many Gs -- the force of gravity -- a human being could withstand.gravity 0 The project team used a rocket sled dubbed the "Gee Whiz" to simulate the force of an airplane crash.rocketcrash 0 The sled traveled more than 200 miles per hour down a half-mile track, coming to an abrupt stop in less than a second. 0 The the team needed an actual person to experience it. Enter Colonel John Paul Stapp.

0 A set of sensors that could be applied to the harness that held Dr. Stapp to the rocket sled. These sensors were capable of measuring the exact amount of G-force applied when the rocket sled came to a sudden stop, making the data more reliable. 0 The first test after Murphy hooked up his sensors to the harness produced a reading of zero -- each one was installed the wrong way. 0 During his ride he was subjected to broken bones, concussions and broken blood vessels in his eyes all in the name of science. 0 So became Murphy’s Law.

What did we learn? 0 Having accurate calculations and measurements is essential in conducting experiments, especially when conducting experiments that could prove to be dangerous.

Certainty 0 When communicating in science you should express how certain you are about your measurements. 0 This Degree of Certainty(or uncertainty) is expressed as: record all those digits that are certain plus one uncertain digit, and no more. 0 These “certain-plus-one” digits are called significant digits. 0 The certainty of a measurement is determined by how many certain digits (plus one) are obtained by the measuring instrument.

The measurement of the distance from the centre of point A to the centre of point B is 2.05 cm. with a certainty of 3 significant digits.

0 The greater the number of significant digits, the greater the certainty of the measurements. 0 Rule: All digits included in a stated value (except leading zeros) are significant digits. 0 The position of the decimal point is not important when counting significant digits; ignore the decimal point! 0 Ex: Adam has a vertical leap of inches. This measurement contains 4 significant digits.

Certainty of Measurement Chart MeasurementCertainty cm4 significant digits 61 m/s2 significant digits 0.03 m1 significant digits km4 significant digits 3.00 x 10³ m/s3 significant digits

Counted or Defined Values 0 When you directly count the pairs of shoes in your closet, this is an exact number. 0 When you find the average height in the class you can get an exact value. 0 Exact(counted) and defined values are thought to have an infinite number of significant digits. 0 Defined values include such examples as 100 cm/m and 60 s/min.

Exact Values Counted ValuesDefined Values 4 cars1000 m/km 60 DVDs10 mm/cm 9 snowballs1 h/ 60 min

Certainty Rule for Multiplying and Dividing

Rounding 0 To obtain the correct certainty we need a general rule for rounding answers. 0 Rule: If the digit after the digit to be retained as significant is a 5 or greater, round up. 0 Ex: Rounding cm to three significant digits would yield 9.15 cm. 0 Rounding 7.23 g to two significant digits would yield 7.2 g.

Precision Rule for Adding and Subtracting 0 Precision is defined as the place value of the last digit obtained from a measurement or calculation. 0 Rule: When adding and subtracting measured values of known precision, the answer has the same number of decimal places as the measured value with the fewest decimal places. 0 Ex: When adding 1.2 mm, 3.05 mm and 7.60 mm the answer can be no more precise then the least precise value of Therefore the answer (11.85 mm) is rounded to 11.9 mm.

Did you Know? 0 The first interplanetary spacecraft launched by the United States, Mariner 1, never reached its target, Venus, because of one missing hyphen in its software.

Conventions of Communication 0 The previous rules are generalizations, however, they provide a set of principles that allow the science community to communicate with each other without much confusion. 0 Despite these guidelines many people understand that their are limitations to these rules. 0 The scientific community agree to the SI conventions that include quantity and symbols. 0 Ex) km not mi (miles) and h not hr (hours)

Solving Equations

Converting Units