Benson(YuWang)

BensonW,PalakP
Physics203002
2/9/20152/15/2015

Abstract:

Inthislab,wemeasuredthevolumeofagaswithrespecttoachangingtemperature.Using
thedirectlyproportionalrelationshipbetweenvolumeandtemperatureofanidealgas,we
predictedanexperimentalabsolutezero.Todeterminethevolume,wemeasuredtheheight
ofagasbubbleinoilwitharuler.Todeterminethetemperature,weusedasteeltemperature
probe.Ourexperimentalabsolutezerowas283.12C.Thepercenterrorwas3.65%.

Errors(Source,Type,Effect,Mitigation)

Rulersprecision(randomerror)
Rulershighestprecisioniscentimeters.Thisisaproblem,becausewhen
calculatingtheslope,theaccuracyinthedifferenceofthelengthisonlyone
significantfigure.Werecordthetemperaturejusteverycentimeter,whichisthe
mostprecisewecanget.
Wecanmitigatetheeffectsbyusingmoreprecisemeasuringequipment.
Thisshouldhavearelativelylargeeffectontheprecisionofourresults
becausewearelimitedtoourleastsignificantfigures.Wehadmanypointsto
eventhevarianceout,andstill,luckily,r^2is.999.
Ruler/bubbleoffset(systematicerror)
Becauseofthelimitationsinprecisionoftheruler,thestartingpoint(point
wherebuttofrulermatchesbuttofgasbubble)ismostlikelynotperfectly
aligned.Thebuttofthegasbubblenotbeingperfectlycylindricalalso
contributestothiserror.
Errorcanbemitigatedbyamorepreciseinitiallengthcalibrationequipments.
Thismighthavealargeeffectontheresultsdependingonhowmuchthe
offsetis.Accuracyisaffected.
Temperatureprobeprecision(randomerror)
TemperatureprobeshighestprecisionistenthofC.Thiswilldecreasethe
precisionintheexperimentslightly.However,thelackofprecisionoftheruler
willeasilydominatethatofthetemperatureprobe.
Oncetherulerismoreprecise,temperaturerandomerrorcanbemitigatedwith
amoreprecisetemperatureprobe.
Thisrandomerrorhasaverysmalleffectontheresult.
Temperaturecalibration(systematicerror)
Ivenoticedthattemperatureinwateriscolderthanthatinairevenifthe
temperatureisatanequilibrium.Perhaps,ithassomethingtodowiththestate

ofmatter.Whateverthecase,thetemperaturecalibrationoffsetsthestarting
temperature
Notsurehowmuchthischangestheresultsfurtherinvestigationsmustbe
made.Ifitdoeschangetheresults,itchangestheaccuracy.
Nonmechanicalobservationmechanism(randomerror)
akaweareobservingwithoureyes
Thismightnotbeatraditionalerror,butitisalwayswisetonotdisregardthe
humanelement.Inthiscase,weareobservingtherulerunderwaterwhich
hasanindexofrefractiondifferentthanthatofair.
Assilly/philosophicalasthismightsound,opticalfixednesswasntstressedin
thislab.Neitherismylineofvisionbemechanicallyfixedthisentirelab.
Thissourceofrandomerrorissmall,atleastduringourexperiment.Canbe
mitigatedbyattachingheadtoacrank.Orusingavideocamera(oranystatic
otheroptical)device.Orperhaps,themeasuringdevicebedigital.
Temperaturedistributioninbeaker(systematicerror)
Therearetwoerrorshere.One.Steelprobewillsensethetemperaturefaster
thantheairintheglasstube.Two.Thesteelprobealthoughclosetoisnotat
theexactlocationoftheairbubble.Temperaturechangeinthebeakeris
differentthroughout.(Hotteratthebottom,etc)Botherrorsaltersaccuracy
ratherthanprecision.
Canbemitigatedbyraisingthetemperatureslower.Also,performedina
uniformlywarmedenvironment(insteadofjustthebottom).
Minisculeerror.Almostnonexistent
Gasisnonidealweassumedgasisideal(systematicerror)
Ideally,forthislab,theheatingprocessisstrictlyisobaric.Andideally,thegas
isasclosetoanidealgasaspossible.
Wecanmitigatetheeffectsbygraphingthetemperaturevvolumeatasmaller
butmoreidealrangeofTemperature.Wecanalsoassumetemperatureis
directlyproportionaltoPVinsteadofjustV.Wecanalsouseamoreidealgas
(Helium?).Wecanalsodotheentireexperimentinaroomthatisverylowin
pressure(smallnumberofmolecules)toreduceforcesbetweenindividual
molecules.
Perhapsarealgasbehavesonacurve,whichwouldincreasethevarianceof
thelinearresults(precision).However,weobtained.999forourr^2value,
whichwouldsuggestthisrealgaslikelybehavedquiteideally.Verysmall
effectonresults.

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