Questions about % difference, inherent error, and % relative average difference.

[crimsonn]

1. Done in a lab: % difference: 0.679%, inherent error: 0.7%, % RAD: 0.941%. Anyway, I'm just having trouble interpreting what they mean in comparison to each other. What does the inherent error say about the % difference? And what does it mean if my %RAD is greater than my inherent error?

Homework Equations

The Attempt at a Solution

I really don't know what the inherent error tells me about the %difference. I know that the inherent error is the error due to the use of certain laboratory equipment and is unavoidable for the most part. The % difference means how far you were from the theoretical value. But what do they have to do with one other? The inherent error in this case is slightly larger than that of the percent difference. I'm guessing here, does this mean that there is a good chance that the % error due to the equipment (inherent error) might have been the cause of the % difference? If it is smaller than the inherent error, then it is in the realm of possibility that the difference in the actual value was due to the equipment right?

% RAD is a measure of precision and how precise the data points are to each other and the average. If this is larger than the inherent error it means that there was more human error than error due to the equipment?

 

[haruspex]

does this mean that there is a good chance that the % error due to the equipment (inherent error) might have been the cause of the % difference?

It is hard to answer your questions confidently without a description of the experimental procedure.
Was it a single measurement or a set of independent measurements? If the second, is the %diff calculated on individual measurements or on their mean?
What is the distribution of the inherent error? E.g. is it uniform, as may arise from reading off a graduated scale or a digital output, or more Gaussian? If uniform, does the inherent error quoted represent the maximum or one sdev?

Assuming the above refers to an individual measurement, yes. You could make this more concrete by expressing the inherent error as a probability distribution and seeing what odds that gives for such an observed error occurring by chance.

% RAD is a measure of precision and how precise the data points are to each other and the average

Is it the standard deviation of the measurements? If so, no, it could still happen by chance if the inherent error is not the maximum possible value.