H2 Physics 1 - Quantities and Measurement: Percentage Uncertainty

What you will learn

• Five micrometer readings of a wire diameter: 0.52, 0.54, 0.51, 0.53, 0.52 mm; goal is mean and percentage uncertainty.
• Mean d-bar = 2.62 / 5 = 0.524 mm; uncertainty = (max minus min) / 2 = 0.03 / 2 = 0.015 mm.
• Percentage uncertainty = 0.015 / 0.524 x 100% which is about 2.9%, so about 3%.