A force sensor and a motion sensor are used in the laboratory to study the motion of…

PHYSICS · Multi-part · A Level · Physics · Measurements and their errors · Measurements and their errors

Problem

A force sensor and a motion sensor are used in the laboratory to study the motion of a wooden sled on a long, horizontal bench. The force sensor shows that the sled is pulled by a horizontal force of

15.0\,\text{N}

with an uncertainty of

\pm 0.2\,\text{N}

. The motion sensor records a constant acceleration of

0.750\,\text{m\,s}^{-2}

with an uncertainty of

\pm 0.010\,\text{m\,s}^{-2}

. (i) Calculate the inertial mass of the sled using the above data. (ii) Determine the percentage uncertainty in the calculated mass, showing all steps clearly. (iii) State the mass of the sled together with its absolute uncertainty, expressed in the form

m \pm \Delta m

Related theory

Measurement Errors
Newton's Second Law & Dynamics
Errors in measurement
Arithmetic operations and uncertainty propagation

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