The discussion focuses on the factors affecting the experimental value of acceleration due to gravity (g) in free fall experiments. Key factors identified include air resistance, human error, instrument error, and calibration errors. The variation of g on the Earth's surface is also noted, with applications in oil exploration. The accuracy of measurements is emphasized, particularly in the context of using a picket fence and photogate for data collection, where human error is minimized but still relevant.
PREREQUISITESStudents conducting physics experiments, educators teaching concepts of gravity and measurement, and researchers interested in experimental accuracy and error analysis.
Delphi51 said:All of those plus g does vary a little on the Earth's surface. Oil companies actually use the variation to find likely oil fields.
Much depends on how you measured g. The usual approach is to estimate the inaccuracy in measured quantities and "propagate" those errors through to the final calculated answer.
nnis13 said:So all these (air resistance , human error , instruments error or wrong calibration) are true? Because it's a question i have to answer for an experiment
ideasrule said:Well, exactly how did you do the experiment? If we tell you "air resistance" and the experiment used a vacuum chamber, that isn't too useful, is it?
nnis13 said:It was an experiment with a picket fence and a photogate
ideasrule said:Well, then there's no human error because a computer is doing the measurements. (You could of course say there's an error associated with the person dropping the picket fence--and in fact that's the main source of error here--but you have to be way more specific.) Instrument error, calibration errors, etc. are all valid, but they probably play a small role.