Peter conducted an experiment to investigate how much water a paper towel could absorb. Initially, He found that one paper towel absorbed 13.31 g of water. Later he found that his scale was not calibrated and he had to repeat the experiment. After repeating the experiment with a new scale, He found that one paper towel can actually absorb 13.99 g of water. What is the approximate percent error between the findings between first and second reading?
The actual value of the amount of water absorbed by one paper towel is 13.99 g.
The percent error between the first reading (13.31 g) and the actual value (13.99 g) can be calculated using the formula:
% error = | (experimental value - actual value) / actual value | x 100%
% error = | (13.31 g - 13.99 g) / 13.99 g | x 100%
% error = | (-0.68 g) / 13.99 g | x 100%
% error ≈ 4.86%
Therefore, the approximate percent error between the first and second reading is about 4.86%.
To calculate the percent error between the first and second readings, we can use the formula:
Percent Error = ((|Measured Value - Accepted Value|) / Accepted Value) * 100
In this case, the measured values are 13.31 g and 13.99 g, respectively. We'll consider the second reading (13.99 g) as the accepted value since it was obtained after calibrating the scale.
Now, let's substitute the values into the formula:
Percent Error = ((|13.31 g - 13.99 g|) / 13.99 g) * 100
Calculating the numerator:
|13.31 g - 13.99 g| = 0.68 g
Substituting the values:
Percent Error = (0.68 g / 13.99 g) * 100
Dividing:
Percent Error = 0.0486 * 100
Calculating:
Percent Error ≈ 4.86%
Therefore, the approximate percent error between the first and second readings is approximately 4.86%.