Physics and Measurement Lab

1.       Organizing Data. Calculate the volume of the wooden block for each trial. V=L xW x T

	D	F	H	M	P	10
Length	4.3cm	5.5cm	7.0cm	7.5cm	7.6cm	10.1cm
Width	3.6cm	3.6cm	3.7cm	7.4cm	7.6cm	8.0cm
Tickness	3.5cm	3.6cm	3.7cm	4.3cm	3.8cm	3.7cm
Mass	27.6g	38.8g	51.2g	96.0g	161.1g	177.0g
Volume	54.2cm^3	71.3cm^3	95.8cm^3	238.6cm^3	219.5cm^3	299.0cm^3

2.       A. Difference between the smallest length measurement and largest length measurement.

Blobk (10) has the length of 10.1 cm and Block D has the length of 4.3 cm.

10.1cm  -  4.3cm=5.8 cm

B. Difference between the smallest calculated volume and largest volume.

The largest volume: 298.96 cm^3   The smallest volume: 54.18 cm^3

299.0 cm^3– 54.2 cm^3 = 244.8 cm^3

C. How does the multiplying several length measurements together to find the volume affect the precision of the result?

Because we choose the smaller significant number between two measurements when we multiply several measurements, it will make the significant number smaller,. Therefore the precision of the result will be decrease, which means it will be less accurate as you multiplying numbers.

3.       If you drop blocks from a same height, will it take same amount of time?

No, because it is not possible to make accurate data by human’s hand. But I think It should take same amount of time because all blocks have a same density since they all are made of up same substance. Only elements that can influence to the speed of time when the objects are falling from the same height are frictional force and density. But the frictional force between air and surface does not influence really in this experiment. Therefore it should take same amount of time to fall down.


4. Make a scatter plot of the distance versus time ot the block's fall.

Block	M	P	F	10	H	D
Time (s)	.78s	.585s	.725s	.60s	.56s	.47s
Distance	1m	1m	1m	1m	1m	1m

5.       Find the ratio between the mass and the volume. Based on your data, what is the relationship between mass and volume?

Density explains the relationship between mass and volume, because mass over volume equals density.  The ratio between the mass and volume is about 1:2, but I could not get the exact ratio because of the errors. If I graph the volume-mass graph, we will get the constant slope.

6.       Explain the error that could affect your results. Consider method error and instrument error.

Because the ‘seconds’ is a small unit to see the huge different, depending on how fast we click the stop button of time measurement made the result different. Example, we thought we click the button as soon as the block tough the floor, but it could be 0.20 seconds later. The result of time that we suppose to get should be all same but I got errors because of difficulty of perfect measuring. And when we measured the length of block, we might made mistake too. We could find out that there are the errors because our data does not follow the theory exactly.

7. Because each students will have different result even though it is a small error. But by exercising few times by different people, we can get more exact result. If each student has similar data, it means it is more precise. And if someone’s result makes more sense depending on theory, it means it is more accur