We computed the height of the common stopper to be 2.56 +/- .02 cm. Lastly; we computed the volume of the commons stopper to be 74.8 +/- 1.6 cm3. We were able to use these two quantities to calculate density of the common stopper and it was 1.40 +/- .04 g/cm3. .
Next we calculated a data analysis on the quantities we computed and related to these values to the accuracy and precision in measurement. The quantity percent uncertainty was calculated so that we can correlate this with the precision of our data set. Furthermore, the uncertainty for the mass of the common stopper and density are .0001% and 4% effectively. These calculations indicate that the most precise quantity that we measured was the mass of the common stopper indicated by the lower percent uncertainty than the density. These findings are directly correlated to the manner in which we collected these quantities in the laboratory, for the common stopper mass we used an electronic scale, while for the volume and density quantities we used our own perception, which in addition is subject to a higher human error than the mass. Next, we computed the percent error of these quantities so that we can relate them to the accuracy in measurement. Accuracy is directly related to how close the data set is to the 'true value' and since we did not have the true value for mass and volume of the common stopper their accuracy could not be computed. The percent error for the density of the common stopper was 2.17%. 1.37 +/-.02 g/cm3 is the literature value used in the calculation of the percent error in the density of the common stopper. Because the percent error we calculated is close to zero percent it is sufficient to say that the density data set is accurate. .
Stopper.
Mass.
Volume.
Density .
%Error.
Common Stopper .
104.6758 +/- .0017 g.
74.8 +/- 1.6 cm3.
1.40 +/- .04 g/cm3.
2.16%.
Table 1. Common Stopper Data1.
The mass of the first stopper was measured at 31.09 +/- .