BJU Physical Science Section 3B

Facts

100

A measurement's accuracy is actually an assessment of its ___.

error

200

Small random _____ means good repeatability.

errors

300

A big part of science is attempting to minimize the error to have useful ___.

measurements

400

If an instrument is consistently off by the same amount, what kind of error will be present in all of its measurements?

Systematic error

500

If one measurement is to the tenths place (20.1) and one to the hundreths place (20.15), the second one is more ____. 

precise

Significant Digits

100

Scientists can indicate the precision of their measurements by using....

significant digits

200

How many significant digits are in 11.32?

4

300

How many significant digits are in 100.?

3

400

How many significant digits are in 80,000,000?

1

500

How many significant digits are in 0.02100?

4

Scientific Notation

100

A way of converting very large or very small numbers into a product of a small number and a power of ten.

Scientific notation

200

Express 5,640,000 in scientific notation.

5.64 x 10⁶

300

Express 0.0000691 in scientific notation.

6.91 x 10^-5

400

Write 1013 in scientific notation.

1.013 x 10³

500

Write 0.0121 in scientific notation

1.21 x 10^-2

Allowable Variation

100

An allowable measurement is 12 inches  +- 0.5 

11.5 - 12.5

200

An allowable measurement is 32 inches  +- 0.25 

31.75 - 32.25 inches

300

An allowable measurement is 42 inches  +- 0.5 . What is the shortest the measurement can be?

41.5 inches

400

A measurement is supposed to be 36 inches, but has a tolerance of  +- 0.25 . Is 35.74 an acceptable measurement? Why or why not?

No. It must be at least 35.75.

500

A measurement is supposed to be 36 inches, but has a tolerance of  +- 0.25 . Is 36.20 an acceptable measurement? Why or why not?

Yes. It must be less than 36.25.

All Mixed Up

100

Is a scale that measures to the nearest 1 g less precise than one that measures to the nearest 0.1 g?

Yes. The smaller the unit, the greater the precision.

200

Scientists evaluate the usefulness of their measurements by ___ them as many times as needed to see how much they vary.

repeating

300

How many significant digits are in 10.0025?

6

400

Write 0.00346 in scientific notation.

3.46 x 10^-3

500

While playing darts, one player's dart landed 1 inch from the bulls eye. The other player's dart landed 1.1 inches from the bulls eye. Which was more accurate?

The one that landed 1 inch from the bulls eye because he was closest to the intended target.