2
Metric multipliers
Small or large quantities can be expressed in terms of
units that are related
to the basic ones by powers of 10.
Orders of magnitude and estimates
Expressing a quantity as a plain power of 10 gives what
is called the order of magnitude of that quantity. Thus,
the mass of the universe has an order of magnitude of
1053 kg and the mass of the Milky Way galaxy has an
order of magnitude of 1041 kg. The ratio of the two
masses is then simply 1012
Le g h/m
.
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diamete of th e solar syst em
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Significant figures
The number of digits used to express a number carries
information about how precisely the number is known.
• Significant figures in the measured value of a physical quantity
denote the number of digits in which we have confidence.
• Larger the number of significant figures obtained in a
measurement, greater is the accuracy of the measurement. The
reverse is also true.
• The significant figures are normally those digits in a measured
quantity which are known reliably plus one additional digit that is
uncertain.
Rules for counting the number of significant figures
• All non-zero digits are significant.
Example: 24.123 – 5 significant digits
• All zeroes become significant if they appear between two non-zero digits.
Example: 4.004 – 4 significant digits
• Leading zeroes or the zeroes placed to the left of the first non-zero digit are
insignificant. Example: 0.006 – 1 significant digit
• Zeroes placed to the right of the number after a decimal place are significant.
Example: 343.000 – 6 significant digits
• In an exponential notation, the numerical portion gives the number
of significant figures. Example: 1.321 ×103 – 4 significant digits
• Zeros at the end of a number will be counted as significant, only if
they are at the right side of a decimal point.
Example:
300 meter, no. of significant figures = 1
3.00 meter, no. of significant figures = 3
27210 meter, no. of significant figures = 4
10.010 meter, no. of significant figures = 5
Rules for rounding off
• If the digit to be dropped is less than five, then the preceding digit is
left unchanged. Examples: 7.82 3.94 (Round off to 1 decimal place)
7.8 3.9
• If the digit to be dropped is more than five, then the preceding digit
is raised by one. Examples: 6.87 12.78 (Round off to 1 decimal
place)
6.9 12.8
• If the digit to be dropped is five, followed by digits other than zeroes,
then the preceding digit is raised by one.
Examples: 16.351 6.758
16.4 6.8
• If the digit to be dropped is five or five followed by zeroes, then the
preceding digit is left unchanged if it is even.
Examples: 3.250 12.650
3.2 12.6
• If the digit to be dropped is five or five followed by zeroes, then the
preceding digit is raised by one if it is odd.
Examples: 3.750 16.150
3.8 1 6.2
Uncertainties and errors
This section introduces the basic methods of dealing with
experimental error and uncertainty in measured physical
quantities.
EErrors, Types of Errors
An error is a fault, which may occur even in the most careful
observation.
OOr EError is a deviation of measurement from standard value.
OOr error is an uncertainty in a given measurement.
EError arises due to human limitations and instrumental
limitations. EErrors cannot be completely eliminated but can be
reduced.
Instrumental error :
An error caused due to faulty instrument is called
instrumental error.
Fault in the instrument may be because of faulty
construction or faulty calibration.
CConstant error :
WThe number of observations taken by instrument
possess same amount of error then the error is said to be a
constant error.
Random errors :
The error caused due to experimental conditions and
human limitations is called random error.
• Random errors occur randomly because of the users,
fluctuations in the external conditions, and some variations
in the measuring instruments.
• They do not have any fixed signs.
• The effect of random errors can be somewhat reduced
by taking the average of measured values.
Systematic errors
Systematic errors occur due to errors in the procedure or
miscalibrations of the measuring instruments.
• They have the same size or sign for all measurements.
• These errors can be determined.
Almost certainly there is a frictional force f
between the cart and the table surface. If you
forget to take this force into account, you
would expect the cart’s acceleration a to be:
The uncertainty in reading an instrument is ± half of
the smallest width of the graduations on the
instrument.
For digital instruments, we may take the reading error to
be the smallest division that the instrument can read.
So a stopwatch that reads time to two decimal places, e.g.
25.38 s, will have a reading error of ± 0.01 s,
and a weighing scale that records a mass as 184.5 g will
have a reading error of ± 0.1 g.
Instrument Reading error
ruler ± 0.5 mm
vernier calipers ± 0.05 mm
micrometer ± 0.005 mm
electronic weighing scale ± 0.1 g
stopwatch ± 0.01 s
Accuracy Precision
In a series of successive measurements in an experiment,
the readings of the length of a rod are found to be
10.3 m, 10.6 m, 9.4 m, 9.7 m, 10.2 m, and 9.8 m.
Find the true value,
Absolute error,
Mean absolute error,
Relative error,
Percentage error.