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An experiment is carried out to measure the wavelength of red light from a laser - Scottish Highers Physics - Question 14 - 2015
Question 14
An experiment is carried out to measure the wavelength of red light from a laser. The following values for the wavelength are obtained. 650 nm 640 nm 635 nm 648 nm ... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:An experiment is carried out to measure the wavelength of red light from a laser - Scottish Highers Physics - Question 14 - 2015
Step 1
Calculate the Mean Wavelength
Answer
To find the mean wavelength, we sum all the given values and divide by the number of measurements:
Mean Wavelength = ( \frac{650 + 640 + 635 + 648 + 655}{5} )
Calculating this gives:
( \frac{3278}{5} = 655.6 , nm )
Rounding to the nearest whole number, we get a mean wavelength of 646 nm.
Step 2
Determine the Uncertainty
Answer
Next, we calculate the uncertainty. The uncertainties arise from the spread of the individual measurements around the mean. The approximate random uncertainty can be found using:
Uncertainty = ( \frac{1}{2} \text{Max} - \text{Min} )
Here, Max = 655 nm and Min = 640 nm.
Uncertainty = ( \frac{1}{2} (655 - 640) = \frac{15}{2} = 7.5 , nm )
For reporting, we can round this to ±4 nm.
Step 3