The accepted value of Planck’s constant is

PHYSICS · Subjective · A Level · Physics · Measurements and their errors · Measurements and their errors

Problem

The accepted value of Planck’s constant is 6.626070×10−34 J s6.626070\times10^{-34}\,\text{J\,s}. Two different experimental setups are used to measure the constant. Setup I records a single value of 6.623×10−34 J s6.623\times10^{-34}\,\text{J\,s}. Setup II records a single value of 6.6291×10−34 J s6.6291\times10^{-34}\,\text{J\,s}. (a) For Setup I, determine the absolute error, relative error and percentage error. Express the percentage error to three significant figures. (b) Repeat the calculations in part (a) for Setup II. (c) Using your results, state which setup yields the more accurate value of Planck’s constant and by how much (in percentage error difference) it is better than the other setup. (d) If further improvements reduce the absolute error in Setup I by 2.0×10−37 J s2.0\times10^{-37}\,\text{J\,s}, calculate the new percentage error that would result.

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