Activity 3: Calipers

"And as it measured in her calipers,

The mountain stood exalted in its place.

So love will take between the hands a face. . . ." - Robert Frost

In every measurement, there is human judgement. To lessen the effect of human judgement in measurement, we use calipers.

In this session, we measured minimum amounts through the use of some (awesome) instruments.  The simplest instrument was an ordinary ruler,  the second one is what we call a  micrometer caliper, and last but the coolest of all was the vernier caliper.  

My group was given a solid sample for us to measure the dimensions needed to answer the questions listed in our activity sheet.  The measuring process was tough for it requires many formulas and patient measuring techniques.  

After measuring the dimension of the solid sample and recording all the data needed to answer the questions in the activity, we were given grain samples.  These grain samples were measured in length.

Seeing my group mate actually measuring the grain was funny in the same time pitiful (LOL).  Imagine a tiny little grain, and we need to measure it's length :))

The whole session was fun.  Our attention was bounded to the activity only.  We were able to accomplish our objectives for the session : to report as best estimates quantities that are not fluctuating; describe how the experimenter's judgement can introduce uncertainty in measurement ; and read length measurements using the vernier and micrometer calipers.

Physics 101.1 is getting tougher and tougher!