Calculate Percentage Error: Ball Down the Ramp Lab

[jubbly]

Hey guys, I was wondering how to do a percentage error for this lab experiment I did. It was the ball down the ramp.

My teacher told me to find it I needed to do error/accepted value, so we worked out the accepted value together, but there wasn't enough time to find the error. How would I go and find the error? All I have is my data table with the final velocity of the ball rolling down 2,3, and 4 meters, would i use the average of the velocity/accepted value?

 

[Delphi51]

Welcome to PF, Jubbly!

Finding the % error for error/accepted value is straight forward. Say the accepted value is 50 and the value you found is 45. Then the error is 5 and the % error is 5/50*100 = 10%.

So, you need a single accepted value and your measurement of the same thing. One thing. Were you, perhaps, finding the acceleration in this experiment? If so, you could use your data to find an experimental value of acceleration, and you could use theory to figure out the "correct" value for the acceleration. Then you could do % error for the two numbers.