A student measures the mass of a paper clip. The student’s data table is shown below. The accepted value for the paper clip’s mass is 1.14 g.
Trial 1 - 2.45 g
Trial 2 - 2.40 g
Trial 3 - 2.42 g
Which of the following describes the student’s measurements?
a. The student’s measurements were accurate, but not precise.
b. The student’s measurements were precise, but not accurate.***
c. The student’s measurements were neither precise nor accurate.
d. The student’s measurements were both precise and accurate.
Is this right?
Yes
Okay, thanks! (=
Yes, that is correct. The student's measurements are precise, but not accurate. Precision refers to the consistency or reproducibility of the measurements, while accuracy refers to how close the measurements are to the accepted value.
In this case, the student's measurements have low accuracy because they are consistently higher than the accepted value of 1.14 g. However, they have high precision because the values obtained in Trial 1, Trial 2, and Trial 3 are close to each other (2.45 g, 2.40 g, and 2.42 g).