During a practical examination a student measures the length of a simple pendulum as…
PHYSICS · Multi-part · A Level · Physics · Measurements and their errors · Measurements and their errors
Problem
During a practical examination a student measures the length of a simple pendulum as L=0.800m with a metre scale having a least count of 0.001m. The time taken for 50 oscillations is noted as 90.0s with a stop-watch of least count 0.1s.
(i) Determine the time period T and its absolute uncertainty.
(ii) Using the measured quantities and their uncertainties, calculate the value of the acceleration due to gravity and the percentage uncertainty in the result.
(iii) Report the final value of g with its absolute uncertainty, rounded off to the appropriate number of significant figures.