What is Measurements: Definition and 394 Discussions

Measurement is the quantification of attributes of an object or event, which can be used to compare with other objects or events. The scope and application of measurement are dependent on the context and discipline. In natural sciences and engineering, measurements do not apply to nominal properties of objects or events, which is consistent with the guidelines of the International vocabulary of metrology published by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. However, in other fields such as statistics as well as the social and behavioural sciences, measurements can have multiple levels, which would include nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio scales.Measurement is a cornerstone of trade, science, technology and quantitative research in many disciplines. Historically, many measurement systems existed for the varied fields of human existence to facilitate comparisons in these fields. Often these were achieved by local agreements between trading partners or collaborators. Since the 18th century, developments progressed towards unifying, widely accepted standards that resulted in the modern International System of Units (SI). This system reduces all physical measurements to a mathematical combination of seven base units. The science of measurement is pursued in the field of metrology.

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  1. 7

    Can Magnetic Field Strength Decrease with Distance in Plasmas?

    Hi Can anyone tell me how magnetic field strength decreases with distance in free space? If the source was effectively a point souce in a plasma, what would the field strength be at a specific distance? Is it source field strength/4 pi r sqrd? As an example if the source was 1T, what...
  2. G

    Discover the Truth About Weak Measurements in 2007 | Postbiota Discussion Thread

    http://postbiota.org/pipermail/tt/2007-May/000515.html Does anyone know what happened with these experiments?
  3. O

    Local measurements on an entangled pair. (My understanding)

    Say we have a BELL state |B00> = cos(a) |00>+ sin(a) |11> then for a (just one) pair of entangled particles, we keep one on location q, the other one in location w; the one in q forms a system Q, the one in w forms W. ( 'x' in a function like |v> x |w> indicates a tensor product)...
  4. T

    Engineering 101: Understanding One Meter (1 m) & Weight Measurements

    To all the engineers or the enginnering students out there. How do you give the definition to one meter (1 m)? More: How much do you weight in Newton, slug, and pound-force (lb_f)?
  5. M

    Advantages of Radian Measurements

    Hey, Simple questions, and hopefully I can explain my query a bit better than others I have made. I'm just trying to think of any advantages for using radians instead of degrees? I know/think that degrees are an arbitrary unit but cannot think of any reasons for using 360. 1. What are the...
  6. H

    Fluoride Ion selective electrode measurements

    Does anyone know why we prepare F- containing solutions with plastic beakers and cups instead of the regular glass beakers before measuring the responses with F- ion selective electrode Is it because F- in corrosive? where can i find infomation on this? Thanks a lot~
  7. R

    G from cosmological measurements

    okay, good. actually at another time i was staring at the more general equation and had a few questions regarding it. so 1/H is the Hubble Time and about the age of the universe (maybe a milli-smidgen longer). this has been measured independently (from astronomical observation), right? and...
  8. Loren Booda

    Is the physical whole a sum of quantum measurements?

    Are all observations of quantum nature, that the macroscopic universe is just a montage of microscopic interactions we have experienced?
  9. C

    Can operators describe a single or many measurements simultaneously?

    Can operators describe a single or many measurements at a single time? i.e. a stern-gerlach atom deflection experiment where we can measure "up" deflection and "down" deflection or just "up" deflection. I think I'm pretty confused..
  10. R

    Measuring Time Intervals: How Precise Can We Go?

    I'm not sure which location to post this in; but since it deals with the very small (sub-atomic), then I'll post it here. Does anybody know just how precise they can measure time? Can they measure seconds down to 50 yotta seconds (10^{-24})? I have a theory (well, not quite that far yet...
  11. T

    Why Does the Measurement Problem Terrify Physicists?

    I recently watched a program called 'Atom' on bbc4 that said something along the lines of: "If you want to strike fear into the eyes a physicist; mention the measurement problem" - What is the measurement problem and why is it such a problem?
  12. M

    Weak measurements? Modified Double slit

    I came upon a very interesting article today: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19875410/site/newsweek/ I wanted to confirm what I read... this is the first time I ever heard of this kind of thing, and I was wondering if any of you have seen this before. It talks about a tweak of Young's...
  13. Simfish

    Question about temperature measurements

    Used in measured highs/lows/hourly temperatures. Are they shade temperatures or temperatures under the Sun? Also - are shade temperatures really cooler than temperatures under the Sun?
  14. G

    Uncertainty/errors in meter stick measurements

    Hi just got a couple of question about errors in measurements. I have a table of results of different meter stick measurements which are accurate to 0.1 cm. Now a meter stick reads to 0.1 cm and the uncertainty is usually 20% of the smallest reading. so all of my readings should be +/-...
  15. H

    Measurements on YBCO, and their meaning.

    Hi. I will in a soon future be able to make some experiments with superconductivity on a University nearby. The reason that I started this thread was because I need some help with just what I can measure that can be in any intresset for me. The equipment is quite high so that shouldn´t be a...
  16. H

    A hyperbolicshape of the universe, despite measurements

    Hi. If I have got it all right the latest measurements of light from very distanced super novas tells us that the space of the universe is not curved, either hyperbolic or Spherical. But I have recently been introduced to diffrent kind of hyperbolic geometries, like the projective model for...
  17. L

    Looking for introduction on QND: quantum non-demolition measurements

    I just read a news on physicsweb: http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/11/3/9" This is called a "quantum non-demolition (QND) measurement on single photons". I would like to know a little bit more about QNDs. Why they are called so. What is special about these QND experiments, or maybe...
  18. O

    Significant figures when taking measurements.

    I am taking measurements off the screen of an analog oscilloscope in order to calculate voltage and frequency of a sinusoidal wave form. The volts per division is set to 0.50V, and the time per division is set to 0.50 ms. I measure the vertical length of the trace to be 2.67 divisions. I...
  19. T

    Uncertainty in resistance measurements with multimeter

    I am writing a report on an experiment involving measuring the resistance of one component with different multimeters, and finding the uncertainties of these measurements from the multimeters themselves. For example, with one of the multimeters I got 270.1 ohms. This multimeter have stated "0.7%...
  20. J

    Question about Measurements and sig. figs.

    This is a question about practical physics ... if its posted in the wrong section my sincere apologies ! How do i decide the least count of a measuring device such as an ammeter (analog) ? I know that the least count is the smallest division of measurement ... but why do people...
  21. E

    How to Correct Angle Measurement Errors in Geometry Problems

    I'm doing test corrections for homework and we have to explain how to correct what we did wrong. I already have the answers I just need to know how to figure out the answer. 18. Find m<Q. The diagram is not to scale. http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/3986/helpbp3.jpg 24. Find the value...
  22. S

    Is My Calculation of Uncertainty in Measurements Correct?

    Hi, I just had a quick question in regards to the addition/subtraction of quantaties and their uncertainties. Am i correct in saying (22.4mL plusminus .01mL) + (21.3mL plusminus .01mL)=43.7 plusminus .02mL? or is it plusminus .01mL ? Im pretty sure my first answer is correct just...
  23. L

    Is the QM axiom for measurements misleading?

    Was the QM postulate for measurements misleading? Interactions and their understanding is the central topic of QM. So it is for CM too. The interaction between a QM system and a (macroscopic) Classical system is for sure an extremely interresting subject. Particularly when we want to describe...
  24. E

    Do EPR Tests Require Simultaneous Measurements?

    Suppose you have a particle which is not in a momentum eigenstate. You then measure the momentum (say, in the x-direction) by two separate apperati simultaneously. Do the results have to agree? I asked my professor about this and he said that quantum mechanics will tell you that you can't...
  25. S

    What Are the New Insights from Bs - Anti-Bs Mixing Measurements at Fermilab?

    Has anybody seen the news on the new measurements of the Bs - anti-Bs mixing amplitudes by the D0 and CDF experiments at Fermilab? Tommaso Dorigo has a scholarly description at http://dorigo.wordpress.com/2006/04/11/more-details-on-bs-mixing/" (you may have to scroll down to April 19 there...
  26. B

    What two measurements are made of an element using a mass

    what two measurements are made of an element using a mass spectrometer?
  27. D

    What is the projection postulate in quantum mechanics?

    Hi, I really need help solving this problem, can you pleasez help me with it? Here is the problem: An operator A, representing observable A, has two normalized eigenstates w1 and w2, with eigenvalues a1 and a2, respectively. Operator B, representing observable B, has two normalized...
  28. O

    Uncertainty in physical measurements

    i have some boubts about uncertainty in physical measurements. when adding two measurable values or subtracting them, we ADD UP the uncertainties-that is understood. BUT when multiplying two measurable values WE ADD PERCENTAGE UNCERTAINTIES. Why is that?
  29. A

    Building a sensor and making measurements

    Hey for a project, i have to build a sensor of any sort, and then make loads of measurements to see how accurate it is ect, what do you think would be a good sensor to build. it needs to be complex but not extreme! i am in 6th form takes A.s physics! any ideas would be greatfull. thanks alex!
  30. S

    Compatibility of qunatum measurements

    The question is "two operators A,B do not commute". Is it true that ([A,B]psi) does not equal zero for any state psi?" I'm not sure if there are any cases in which a state psi could produce this result (except for the obvious one where psi = 0 and there is no particle). Thanks
  31. S

    Calculate a spring constant using measurements from a Hooke's Law

    I need to calculate a spring constant using measurements from a Hooke's Law Apparatus, a spring, and some weights. Frankly, I have no idea what I need to do. I've taken the measure ments, and discovered the formula F=kx, where F=Force, k=spring constant, and x=the compressed distance. I'm not...
  32. bayan

    Analysis of Experimental Errors on Wavelength and Angle Measurements

    This is my report on an experiment that I have done and I really needed the latex codes to generate the equations. I have done the other parts of the report on other PC. Do they seem to be ok? (the errors, like the max possible value and min possible value) no help is really needed, rather...
  33. P

    Correction to temperature measurements

    One problem in past climate models has been that the troposphere did not appear to be warming as much as expected. A new report in Science indicates that a correction factor should have been applied and was not. When the correction factor is applied, warming in the troposphere is observed. I am...
  34. A

    Calculating Filling Time for a Large Bottle of Water

    Hi, I just started my school year, and we're currently on Measurements. I need help with this one problem that my teacher assigned. The biggest bottle ever made was 193 gallons (730,505cc). If the bottle were filled with water of a density of 1000 kg/m^3 at the leisurely rate of 1.8 g/min...
  35. J

    Measurements of time/distance be dependent on an object's velocity

    I'm just starting to learn about relativty, and I'm having trouble understanding it. Maybe someone could help? The first thing that I'm have trouble grasping is why would measurements of time/distance be dependent on an object's velocity relative to the speed of light?
  36. F

    Lasers in Measurements: Learn How to Use Them

    Hi! I have to make a presentation about the usage of lasers in measurements, but I am not sure what I should include. I thought of something like using laser beams for measuring distances, but I don't know how exactly this can be done and what else can be measured with lasers. I'd be greatful if...
  37. Z

    Is there a site to do conversions of measurements

    Is there a site that teaches how to do conversions of measurments. More specificly I need one that teaches coversion between different measurements like gallons to cubic inches or square feet to millimeters or grams to meters LOL if there is such a thing lol
  38. C

    Problem involving relative measurements

    Hello all I need help with the following problem: Two measuring sticks use the same unit but the scale on one stick has 635 marks per unit and the scale on the other stick has 465 marks per unit. Suppose the sticks are placed together so that the 0 mark on each scale line up. What is the...
  39. C

    Fluid Mechanics - Pressure measurements

    I'm having difficulty with one problem and was hoping someone could help me out. Here's the problem: Mercury is poured into a U-tube as in Figure P14.18a. The left arm of the tube has a cross-sectional area A1 of 107.0 cm2, and the right arm has a cross-sectional area A2 of 4.10 cm2. One...
  40. B

    I need clarification about Bell state Measurements

    The four bell states are 1: (|00>+|11>)(2)^-0.5 2: (|00>-|11>)(2)^-0.5 3: (|01>+|10>)(2)^-0.5 4: (|01>-|10>)(2)^-0.5 I'm looking at super dense coding and the way i thought of it at first was that if a measurement of the first qubit was made then if we consider the first bell state (1)...
  41. M

    Solving Vector Addition Without Angle Measurements

    In class today we had a brief lesson on vector addition. I understand how to calculate the resultant when given a magnitude and angle measurent for each vector, but my teacher gave me no other examples. I have tons of homework problems that do not give me this information, but I am expected to...
  42. N

    Area Measurements: Converting Feet to Sq. Feet for Horse Stall

    I need help converting feet to area or square feet for my horse stall. I have two stalls, each of which is 12' x 12'. I want to put a thickness of 2.25" of lime over the barn floor surface of these stalls. How many 50 lb bags would I need to buy? Can you show me the equation also? Thank...
  43. T

    Half life measurements on foams

    Hi! I'd like to make some half-life measurements on water based foams. I have only simple instruments for it. Can anybody help me? I don't know the exact method that how to make this measurement correctly. And I also need the mathematical apparatus for it. I've found an article where the...
  44. A

    What is the correct method for combining systematic errors in measurements?

    Say you have two measurements of the same quantity: t = 500 +- 20 +- 3 t = 600 +- 90 +- 10 where the first error is statistical and the second is systematic. What is the correct way of combining the systematic errors? i.e., if I want to put both measurements together into t = x +-...
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