Lesson 7 — Finish 4.2 — Start 4.3 distance-time graphs

• Natuurkunde / Scheikunde
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 2

Lesson plan

•  Why measurement matters
• Measurement error
• Finishing 4.2
• Worksheet + exercises

Learning goals

•  Give a definition of precision and accuracy

• Explain in your own words what is meant by 'measurement error'.

•  Apply what you learned in 4.2 in a worksheet and exercises

Why does

Measurment matter?

Make everyone look around, with the question — what around us has been measured or has to do with measurement?

Why does measurment matter to us?

2000 years ago philosophers gave birth to the idea of rationality. That the world around us works in ways that can be understood, and that there is a causality behind everything. Cause and effect. With this came the idea that the world can be understood. This is the basis of the modern world view. That things work in certain ways, and that through investigating the world we can come to understand these ways. And this allows us to create a better life, a better society, a better world. These processes, we found out are very complicated and to investigate them we have to know how long the things involved are, how much time things take, their mass, the forces acting on them and much more. And this is where measurment comes in. 

So measurment matters because measurment is an integral part of coming to understand how everything works. 

Measurment error

• I would like to determine the time for the ball to complete one swing.

• What would be the best approach?
  

Precision & accuracy

Precision & accuracy

Accuracy — how close the measurement is to the true value

Precision — How detailed the measurement is and how consistent it is

Accuracy

• how close the measure is to the true value 
  

• How correct the measurment is to the true value
  

Precision

• How detailed our measurement is 
  

• and how consistent our measurement is
  

• Shown in the number of significant figures

Reaction time?

Timing gates?

Worksheet + exercises

Next lesson

Homework

Complete the worksheet

Complete all extra exercises

Learning goals

•  Give a definition of precision and accuracy

• Explain in your own words what is meant by 'measurement error'.

•  Apply what you learned in 4.2 in a worksheet and exercises