ChE 391A

Unit Operations Lab.

Error Analysis and Report Writing

 Errors: Why and What
 Correct experiment is one that measures the data correctly not the one which agrees well
with someone’s feeling or established theories
 Accuracy of the measurement
 Accounting for unavoidable uncertainty

 How to estimate errors

o Errors when reading scales

o We cannot tell for sure whether the length is 128.89 cm or 128.88 cm

o Thus we can state with absolute confidence that the length L is 128.9  0.1 cm
o 0.1 cm is the least count of the scale
 Errors: Why and What

o Errors of Digital Instruments

o No matter how sophisticated, have a limit to their precision

o Usually known by the instrument manual
o The error of an electronic device is usually half of the last precision digit
 Standard Deviation

o Read-off error sometimes can be negligible in comparison to other

dominant error, for example our reaction time in this case
o Solution: Repeat measurement many times
o Average is likely closer to the true value than a single measurement
 Significant Digits

o With a stop watch of Least Count 0.1 s

o With a stop watch of Least Count 0.01 s

 Error Propagation
Sums and Differences
q  x  ...z  (v  ...  w)

q  x  ....  z  ...  w Add absolute errors

Products and Quotients

ab...z

AB..Z

 a b z A B Z
(  ...  )  (  ...  ) Add relative errors
 a b z A B Z

Powers q = xn Constant Multiplication

q  Bx
q x q  Bx
n
q x
 Report Writing
Beginning
• Abstract
• Objective/Aim
Body of the report
• Introduction
• Theory/Formulae
• Experimental Setup
• Experimental Procedure
• Results and Discussion

End
• Conclusions/Summary
• References
• Appendices
 Abstract
• Summary of work

• Should be self-contained (no references)

• 1-2 sentences for each of the 5 main parts (introduction, method,

results, discussion, conclusions) – then streamline

• High information content

• No abbreviations

• 200-300 words

• Best (re-)written last

• All information should be covered in the body of the report

 Introduction
• Usually long

• Best written after the work it requires (e.g. background reading) is

finished.

• Provides background information

• Starts wide and focuses quickly

• Tries to catch the interest

• Introduces each and every new idea, concept, symbol, abbreviation

• Defines scope and purpose of the work.

• What problem(s) are we trying to solve? What question(s) are we trying

to answer?
 Other Key points

Theory/ Formulae
• Describe relevant theory and formulae briefly, assumptions etc.
• Take care of units

Experimental Setup
• Describe the key equipments
• Show a labelled diagram

Experimental Procedure
• Describe the experimental procedure in detail so that it can be repeated easily

Results and Discussions

• Purely objective, No opinions only facts
• Includes the experimental data collected
• Use calculations, tables, plots and discussion
• Error analysis
 Figures and Plots
• Label all axes

• Mention all units

• Use same scaling for figures that need to be

compared

• Put caption BELOW the figure

• Number the figures sequentially

• Include the figure immediately after the first

Figure 1: Contact angle as a function of ethanol
reference to it in the text (unless page layout does concentration on a rough surface.

not permit)

• Put all required info on the figure (if possible) – not in

caption or text

• Avoid crowded figures

 Tables

• Label all columns

• Mention all units

• Put caption ABOVE the table

• Number the tables sequentially

 Expectations in this course
• Every individual has to submit his/her own report

• Handwritten

• Avoid copying