Measurement and Uncertainty
- Grade Level: Senior High (10-12)-Adult
- Subjects: Chemistry
- Produced By: Rees Films
- Year: 2007
- Country: Australia
- Language: English
- Running Time: 23m
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The importance of error and uncertainty in scientific measurement. Show case studies of students estimating and reporting the uncertainties in their measurements. The program deals with these questions: why is measurement important in science?; why is uncertainty inevitable in scientific measurements?; the importance of multiple measurements and of averaging the results; outliers; how to estimate the range of uncertainty in a measurement; accuracy and precision; how to manage uncertainty when adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing measurements; expressing uncertainty in standard form. The program concludes with a practical exercise: students are shown how to measure the Sun's diameter, and then estimate the uncertainty in their results.