Question

. Charlie is measuring a piece of equipment that he is using in an electrical repair. The true length of the piece is 3.749 cm. Charlie is using a device marked in half-millimetres. What measurement and uncertainty will he record? How to do this

Answer 1

[AI-generated answer — Bot GPT 3.5]

1. Charlie will measure the length of the piece using the device marked in half-millimetres. He will first count the number of full millimetres on the device, which represents the whole number part of the length.

2. Next, he will note the smallest division on the device, which is half of a millimetre. He will note the number of these half-millimetre divisions that align with the end of the piece he is measuring.

3. The measurement recorded by Charlie will be the sum of the whole number part and the fraction of the half-millimetre divisions he observed. This measurement will be in millimetres.

4. To determine the uncertainty of the measurement, Charlie will take into account the smallest division on the device, which is half a millimetre. This means that the uncertainty of his measurement will be ±0.25 mm.

5. Finally, Charlie will convert the measurement and uncertainty from millimetres to centimetres. The measurement will be 37.5 cm with an uncertainty of ±0.025 cm. This means that the true length of the piece could be between 37.475 cm and 37.525 cm.