INTRODUCTION TO

METROLOGY

DEFINITIONS

Metrology is the study of measurements

Measurements are quantitative observations;

numerical descriptions

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OVERVIEW

This longer lecture explores general principles of

metrology

Next 3 shorter lectures apply principles to specific

measurements: weight, volume, pH

Later will talk about measuring light transmittance

(spectrophotometry)

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WE WANT TO MAKE GOOD

MEASUREMENTS

Making measurements is woven throughout

daily life in a lab.

Often take measurements for granted, but

measurements must be good.

What is a good measurement?

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EXAMPLE

A man weighs himself in the morning on his

bathroom scale, 172 pounds.
Later, he weighs himself at the gym,173
pounds.

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QUESTIONS

How much does he really weigh?

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Do you trust one or other scale? Which one?

Could both be wrong? Do you think he
actually gained a pound?

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Are these good measurements?

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NOT SURE

We are not exactly certain of the mans true

weight because:

Maybe his weight really did change always

sample issues
Maybe one or both scales are wrong always
instrument issues

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DO WE REALLY CARE?

Do you care if he really gained a pound?

How many think give or take a pound is

OK?

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ANOTHER EXAMPLE

Suppose a premature baby is weighed. The

weight is recorded as 5 pounds 3 ounces and
the baby is sent home.

Do we care if the scale is off by a pound?

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GOOD MEASUREMENTS

A good measurement is one that can be

trusted when making decisions.

We just made judgments about scales.

We make this type of judgment routinely.

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IN THE LAB

Anyone who works in a lab makes judgments about

whether measurements are good enough
but often the judgments are made subconsciously
differently by different people
Want to make decisions
Conscious
Consistent

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QUALITY SYSTEMS

All laboratory quality systems are concerned

with measurements

All want good measurements

Some language is quoted in your lab manual

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NEED

Awareness of issues so can make good

measurements.

Language to discuss measurements.

Tools to evaluate measurements.

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METROLOGY VOCABULARY

Very precise science with imprecise

vocabulary

(word precise has several precise meanings that

are, without uncertainty, different)

Words have multiple meanings, but specific

meanings

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VOCABULARY

Units of measurement

Standards
Calibration
Traceability
Tolerance

Accuracy
Precision
Errors
Uncertainty

UNITS OF MEASUREMENT

Units define measurements

Example, gram is the unit for mass
What is the mass of a gram? How do we
know?

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DEFINITIONS MADE BY
AGREEMENT

Definitions of units are made by international

agreements, SI system

Example, kilogram prototype in France

K10 and K20 at NIST

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EXTERNAL AUTHORITY

Measurements are always made in

accordance with external authority
Early authority was Pharaohs arm length

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A standard is an external authority

Also, standard is a physical embodiment
of a unit

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STANDARDS ARE:

Physical objects, the properties of which are

known with sufficient accuracy to be used to
evaluate other items.

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STANDARDS ARE AFFECTED BY

THE ENVIRONMENT

Units are unaffected by the environment, but

standards are

Example, Pharaohs arm length might change

Example, a ruler is a physical embodiment of
centimeters

Can change with temperature

But cm doesnt change

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STANDARDS ALSO ARE:

In chemical and biological assays,

substances or solutions used to establish the
response of an instrument or assay method
to an analyte

See these in spectrophotometry labs

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STANDARDS ALSO ARE:

Documents established by consensus and

approved by a recognized body that establish
rules to make a process consistent

Example ISO 9000

ASTM standard method calibrating micropipettor

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CALIBRATION IS:

Bringing a measuring system into accordance

with external authority, using standards
For example, calibrating a balance

Use standards that have known masses

Relate response of balance to units of kg
Do this in lab

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PERFORMANCE VERIFICATION
IS:

Check of the performance of an instrument or

method without adjusting it.

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TOLERANCE IS:

Amount of error that is allowed in the

calibration of a particular item. National and
international standards specify tolerances.

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EXAMPLE

Standards for balance calibration can have

slight variation from true value

Highest quality 100 g standards have a tolerance

of + 2.5 mg
99.99975-100.00025 g
Leads to uncertainty in all weight measurements

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TRACEABILITY IS:

The chain of calibrations, genealogy, that

establishes the value of a standard or
measurement

In the U.S. traceability for most physical and

some chemical standards goes back to NIST

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TRACEABILITY

Note in this catalog example, traceable to

NIST

VOCABULARY

Standards
Calibration
Traceability
Tolerance
Play with these ideas in labs

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ACCURACY AND PRECISION

ARE:

Accuracy is how close an individual value is

to the true or accepted value
Precision is the consistency of a series of
measurements

EXPRESS ACCURACY
% error = True value measured value X 100%

True value

Will calculate this in volume lab

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EXPRESS PRECISION

Standard deviation

Expression of variability
Take the mean (average)
Calculate how much each measurement deviates
from mean
Take an average of the deviation, so it is the
average deviation from the mean

Try this in the volume lab

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ERROR IS:

Error is responsible for the difference

between a measured value and the true
value

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CATEGORIES OF ERRORS

Three types of error:

Gross
Random
Systematic

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GROSS ERROR

Blunders

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RANDOM ERROR

In U.S., weigh particular 10 g standard every

day. They see:

9.999590 g, 9.999601 g, 9.999592 g .

What do you think about this?

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RANDOM ERROR

Variability
No one knows why
They correct for humidity, barometric
pressure, temperature
Error that cannot be eliminated. Called
random error

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RANDOM ERROR

Do you think that repeating the measurement

over and over would allow us to be more
certain of the true weight of this standard?

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RANDOM ERROR

Yes, because in the presence of only random error,

the mean is more likely to be correct if repeat the
measurement many times

Standard is probably really a bit light

Average of all the values is a good estimate of its

true weight

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RANDOM ERROR AND

ACCURACY

In presence of only random error, average

value will tend to be correct

With only one or a few measurements, may

or may not be accurate

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Mean
Median
Mode

THERE IS ALWAYS RANDOM

ERROR

If cant see it, system isnt sensitive enough

Less sensitive balance: 10.00 g,

10.00 g, 10.00 g
Versus 9.999600 g

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SO

Can we ever be positive of true weight of that

standard?
No
There is uncertainty in every weight
measurement

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RELATIONSHIP RANDOM
ERROR AND PRECISION

Random error

Leads to a loss of precision

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SYSTEMATIC ERROR

Defined as measurements that are

consistently too high or too low, bias

Many causes, contaminated solutions,

malfunctioning instruments, temperature
fluctuations, etc., etc.

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SYSTEMATIC ERROR

Technician controls sources of systematic

error and should try to eliminate them, if
possible

Temperature effects
Humidity effects
Calibration of instruments
Etc.

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In the presence of systematic error, does it

help to repeat measurements?

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SYSTEMATIC ERROR

Systematic error

Does impact accuracy

Repeating measurements with systematic

error does not improve the accuracy of the
measurements

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ANOTHER DEFINTION OF
ERROR IS:

Error = is the difference between the measured

value and the true value due to any cause

Absolute error = True value - measured value

Percent error is:

True value - measured value (100 %)
True value

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ERRORS AND UNCERTAINTY

Errors lead to uncertainty in measurements

Can never know the exact, true value for
any measurement.
Idea of a true value is abstract never
knowable.
In practice, get close enough

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UNCERTAINTY IS:

Estimate of the inaccuracy of a measurement

that includes both the random and systematic
components.

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UNCERTAINTY ALSO IS:

An estimate of the range within which the true

value for a measurement lies, with a given
probability level.

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UNCERTAINTY

Not surprisingly, it is difficult to state, with

certainty, how much uncertainty there is in a
measurement value.

But that doesnt keep metrologists from trying

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METROLOGISTS

Metrologists try to figure out all the possible sources

of uncertainty and estimate their magnitude
One or another factor may be more significant. For
example, when measuring very short lengths with
micrometers, care a lot about repeatability. But, with
measurements of longer lengths, temperature
effects are far more important

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REPORT VALUES

Metrologists come up with a value for

uncertainty
You may see this in catalogues or
specifications

Example:

measured value + an estimate of uncertainty

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UNCERTAINTY ESTIMATES

Details are not important to us now

But principle is: any measurement, need to

know where the important sources of error
might be

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SIGNIFICANT FIGURES

One cause of uncertainty in all measurements is

that the value for the measurement can only read to
a certain number of places

This type of uncertainty. It is called resolution

error. (It is often evaluated using Type B methods.)

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SIIGNIFICANT FIGURE
CONVENTIONS

Significant figure conventions are used to

record the values from measurements
Expression of uncertainty
Also apply to very large counted values

Do not apply to exact values

Counts where are certain of value

Conversion factors

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ROUNDING CONVENTIONS

Combine numbers in calculations

Confusing
Look up rules when they need them

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RECORDING MEASURED
VALUES

Record measured values (or large counts) with

correct number of significant figures
Dont add extra zeros; dont drop ones that are
significant
With digital reading, record exactly what it says;
assume the last value is estimated
With analog values, record all measured values plus
one that is estimated
Discussed in Laboratory Exercise 1

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ROUNDING

A Biotechnology company specifies that the

level of RNA impurities in a certain product
must be less than or equal to 0.02%. If the
level of RNA in a particular lot is 0.024%,
does that lot meet the specifications?

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The specification is set at the hundredth

decimal place. Therefore, the result is
rounded to that place when it is reported. The
result rounded is therefore 0.02%, and it
meets the specification.

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Look at all the problems for chapter 13.

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GOOD WEB SITE FOR

SIGNIFICANT FIGURES

http://antoine.frostburg.edu/cgibin/senese/tutorials/sigfig/index.cgi

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Match these descriptions with the 4 distributions in

the figure:
Good precision, poor accuracy
Good accuracy, poor precision
Good accuracy, good precision
Poor accuracy, poor precision

THERMOMETERS

Look at the values for the thermometers on

the board.
Significant figure conventions can guide us in
how to record the value that we read off any
measuring instrument.
With these thermometers, correct number of
sig figs is _______.

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THERMOMETERS

Were they accurate?

How could we figure out the true value for
the temperature?

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REPEATING MEASUREMENTS

Would repeating measurements with these

thermometers, assuming we did not calibrate
them, improve our ability to trust them?
Is their error an example of random or
systematic error?

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CALIBRATION

Calibration of the thermometers could lead to

increased accuracy
This is a type of systematic error
In the presence of systematic error, repeating
the measurement will not improve its
accuracy

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TOLERANCE

Here is a catalog description of mercury

thermometers.
Are these thermometers out of the range for
which their tolerance is specified?

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PRECISION

Were they precise? How could precision be

measured?
Would calibration help to make them more
precise?

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CALIBRATION

Calibration would probably not improve their

precision

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RETURN TO OUR ORIGINAL TYPE

OF QUESTION

Are our temperature measurements good

measurements?
How do you make that judgment?
Can we trust them?

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THERMOMETERS GOOD
ENOUGH?

Are times that we need to be very close in

temperature measurements. For example
PCR is fairly picky.
Other times we can be pretty far off and
process will still work.

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EXPLORE SOME OF THESE

IDEAS

In lab:

Calibrate instruments
Use standards
Check performance of micropipettes
Record measurement values
Calculate per cent errors
Calculate repeatability

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