German Jordanian University

Basic Sciences Department

General Physics Lab

Laboratory Manual and Report
Part I: Mechanics
Basic Sciences Department
General Physics Lab
First | 2025

Laboratory Rules
1. You should arrive punctually.
2. Attendance in all lab sessions is Obligatory.
3. If you must miss a lab due to illness or other excused reasons, you must talk with the lab
instructor as soon as possible. Each lab section is full and there will be neither make-up
sessions nor space for you to work in other sections. If you miss a lab, you MUST discuss
the issue with the course instructor (preferably beforehand) to see what options you
have.
4. University attendance regulations state that you may miss no more than two lab Sessions
for any reason or risk of being permanently dismissed from the lab.
5. Eating and drinking in any laboratory is prohibited.
6. Don't use your mobile during the laboratory.
7. Before leaving the laboratory:
• Switch off the interface and computer
• Ensure that the apparatus and your place has been left tidily
8. You must prepare the experiment BEFORE coming to the lab in order to complete the
experiment in the allotted time.
9. You must have all the needed stationeries for each lab (pencil, rubber, calculator, etc.).

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Basic Sciences Department
General Physics Lab
First | 2025

SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
Significant figures represent the limits of what values of a measurement or a calculation we are
sure of and indicates the confidence or precision with which an engineer or scientist indicates a
quantity.

Significant Figures Rules

1. All non-zero digits are significant.
2. Zeroes between non-zero digits are significant.
3. A trailing zero or final zero in the decimal portion only are significant.

 Example:
Give the number of significant figures in each measurement:
 36.7 m = three significant figures
 0.006606 s = four significant figures
 2,002 kg = four significant figures
 306,490,000 people = five significant figures
 65.080 kg = five significant figures

When the calculation is an addition or subtraction, the rule is as follows: Limit the reported
solution to the rightmost column where all numbers share significant figures.

 Example:
Express the final answer to the proper number of significant figures:

101.2 + 18.702 =?
By using calculator, we would get: 119.902. The final answer is 119.9.

When the calculation is multiplication or division, the rule is to limit the answer to the number
of significant figures that the data value with the least significant figures has.

 Example:
Express the final answer to the proper number of significant figures:

76.4 × 180.4 =?
By using calculator, we would get: 13,782.56. The final answer is 13,800.

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Basic Sciences Department
General Physics Lab
First | 2025

FACTOR PREFIX SYMBOL FACTOR PREFIX SYMBOL

1018 Exa E 10−3 Milli m

1015 Peta P 10−6 Micro µ

1012 Tera T 10−9 Nano n

109 Giga G 10−12 Pico p

106 Mega M 10−15 Femto f

103 Kilo K 10−18 Atto a

Table (1): Multiples and sub-multiples

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Basic Sciences Department
General Physics Lab
First | 2025

Experiment 1
Uncertainty and Errors Analysis

Part A: Basics of experimental errors

Any measurement includes an uncertainty. This uncertainty makes the measurement lay
between two boundaries since the exact quantity may be slightly greater or smaller. The
difference between the boundary and the measurement is called the error and is denoted by Δ
(measurement).

There are basically three reasons for the error:

1. Physical error in the measuring device.

2. Improper or sloppy use of measuring device.
3. Ambient conditions.

Whatever the units of the measuring device, the error in device or instrument is the smallest
division if it is a digital device (e.g., electronic balance, stop watches ...etc.), and one half of the
smallest division if it is an analogue device (e.g., ruler, thermometer ...etc.).

For example, when temperature is measured to be 21.3°C using a Celsius thermometer, the
smallest division on the thermometer is 0.1°C; the measurement should be recorded as: T= 21.3
± 0.05 °C.

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Basic Sciences Department
General Physics Lab
First | 2025

Propagation of errors
If a quantity Z is to be calculated using two measured values: A and B, then the errors in the
measured quantities will contribute to the error in Z (ΔZ).
ΔZ depends on the mathematical operation used and on the values of the measurements. The
following formulae can be used to find ΔZ from ΔA and ΔB:

if 𝑍 = 𝐴 ± 𝐵 , then ∆𝑍 = ∆𝐴 + ∆𝐵

𝐴 ∆𝑍 ∆𝐴 ∆𝐵
if 𝑍 = 𝐴 × 𝐵 or 𝑧 = 𝐵 then = +
𝑍 𝐴 𝐵

∆𝑍 ∆𝐴
if 𝑍 = 𝐴𝑛 , then =𝑛
𝑍 𝐴

Note that errors always sum up; it does not cancel each other.

If the true value of an experimental quantity can be known previously using theoretical
techniques, the percentage relative deviation of the experimental (measured) value from the
true (theoretical, accepted or calculated) value will be the error; this error is called the percent
error and is found using the following formula:

|𝒁𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 − 𝒁𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍 |
𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑬𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 = × 𝟏𝟎𝟎%
𝒁𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍

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Basic Sciences Department
General Physics Lab
First | 2025

Experiment 1
Uncertainty and Errors Analysis

Part B: Measurements and calculation of errors

Objective
Students are introduced to calculate the density of the material from which a cylinder is made
and the error in the density. Use a balance to measure the cylinder's mass, caliper to measure
the diameter of the cylinder, and measuring tape to measure the height of the cylinder and then
calculate the density.

Materials and Equipment (For each student or group)

Items Qty
PASCO 850 Interface 1
Aluminum cylinders (various diameters and lengths) 5-6
Caliper Gauge Steel 1
Balance 1

Background
The density of any material is defined to be the mass of the unit volume. It is given by:

𝑚
𝜌=
𝑉

Where, 𝝆 the density, m is the mass and V is the volume.

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Basic Sciences Department
General Physics Lab
First | 2025

Vernier Caliper

1. Outside jaws: used to measure external diameter or width of an object.

2. Inside jaws: used to measure internal diameter of an object.

3. Depth probe: used to measure depths of an object or a hole.

4. Main (fixed) scale: scale marked every mm.

5. Main (fixed) scale: scale marked in inches and fractions.

6. Vernier gives interpolated measurements to 1/20 mm (0.05mm)

7. Vernier gives interpolated measurements in fractions of an inch.

8. Retainer: used to block movable part to allow the easy transferring of a measurement.

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Basic Sciences Department
General Physics Lab
First | 2025

How do we use a Vernier caliper?

An ordinary Vernier caliper has jaws you can place around an object, and on the other side jaws
made to fit inside an object. These secondary jaws are for measuring the inside diameter of an
object. Also, a stiff bar extends from the caliper as you open it that can be used to measure depth.
The basic steps are as follows:

1. Preparation to take the measurement, loosen the locking screw and move the slider to
check if the Vernier scale works properly. Before measuring, do make sure the caliper
reads 0 when fully closed. If the reading is not 0, adjust the caliper’s jaws until you get a
0 reading. If you can’t adjust the caliper, you will have to remember to add to subtract
the correct offset from your final reading. Clean the measuring surfaces of Vernier caliper
and the object, then you can take the measurement.

2. Close the jaws lightly on the item which you want to measure. If you are measuring
something round, be sure the axis of the part is perpendicular to the caliper. Namely,
make sure you are measuring the full diameter. An ordinary caliper has jaws you can place
around an object, and on the other side jaws made to fit inside an object. These secondary
jaws are for measuring the inside diameter of an object. Also, a stiff bar extends from the
caliper as you open it that can be used to measure depth.

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Basic Sciences Department
General Physics Lab
First | 2025

How to read the measured value?

50 mm
1. Read the centimeter mark on the fixed
scale to the left of the 0-mark on the
Vernier scale. (50 mm on the fixed caliper).

5 mm
2. Find the millimeter mark on the fixed scale
that is just to the left of the 0-mark on the
Vernier scale. (6mm on the fixed caliper)

0.25 mm
3. Look along the twenty marks on the
Vernier scale and the millimeter marks on
the adjacent fixed scale, until you find the
two that most nearly line up. (0.25 mm on
the Vernier scale).

4. To get the correct reading, simply add this found digit to your previous reading.

50 mm + 5 mm + 0.25 mm = 55.25 mm

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Basic Sciences Department
General Physics Lab
First | 2025

Procedure
1. Use the digital scale to measure the mass of each cylinder (m) and record the value in
your report.
2. Use the caliper to measure the height of each cylinder (h), and record the value in your
report.
3. Use the caliper to measure the diameter of one base of each cylinder (D), and record the
value in your report.
4. Calculate volume and record the error in each of the previous quantities.

Setup
1. Set up the PASCO Interface and computer (Press and hold the power button until the
green lights on the front flash).
2. Open the Pasco Capstone File.
3. Double click on the table option from the column on the right of the screen in capstone
file.
4. Left click on select measurement, create new option, and choose user entered data,
name one of the columns Mass and the other one Volume.
5. Enter the mass and the volume for each cylinder into the Table display.
6. Double click on Graph display option from the column on the right of the screen in
capstone file.
7. Click the Select Measurement button for the display, then from the drop-down list select
Mass on the Y-axis and Volume on the X-axis.
8. Find the slope of your data. Click the Fit tool and select Linear from the menu, a
linear graph represents an equation of a straight line 𝑦 = 𝑚𝑥 + 𝑏, where 𝑚 is the slope of
the straight line and 𝑏 represents the 𝑦- intercept, in our case of density law, 𝑚 = 𝝆, and
𝑏 = 0.
9. Record the slope, “m” as the density.

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Basic Sciences Department
General Physics Lab
First | 2025

Analysis

1. Calculate the volume of the cylinder using the formula:

𝝅𝑫𝟐 𝒉
𝑽=
𝟒

2. Calculate the density of the cylinder using the formula:

𝒎 𝟒𝒎
𝝆= =
𝑽 𝝅𝑫𝟐 𝒉

3. Calculate the percent error using the formula:

|𝒁𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 − 𝒁𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍 |
𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑬𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 = × 𝟏𝟎𝟎%
𝒁𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍

4. Calculate the Uncertainty in the density ( ∆𝝆 ) using the formula:

∆𝝆 ∆𝒎 ∆𝑫 ∆𝒉
= +𝟐 +
𝝆 𝒎 𝑫 𝒉

Note: Express your answers in the units given in the report.

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 Basic Sciences Department
General Physics Lab
First | 2025

Experiment 1
Uncertainty and Errors Analysis
Name: ……………………………………………………………………………………. Partner’s Name: ………………………...………
ID. No.: ……………………………………………………………………………….… Section: ……………………………………………………
Data and Calculations:
Run Mass (g) Dimeter (cm) Hight (cm) Volume (cm3)
1
2
3
4
5
Δm= g ΔD= cm Δh= cm

Questions & Calculations:

1. From your graph display.
 Slope = …………………………………………………, the slope represent: ………………………………………...…………
 Describe the graph: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………

2. What is the percentage error between your measured value “𝝆” and the
standard value of Aluminum density 𝝆 = 2.7 g/cm3? (Show your work).
……..………………………………………..……………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………………….

.………………………………………..……………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………..…………

……..………………………………………..……………………………………………………………………………..……………………………………………………

3. Calculate the uncertainty in the density ∆𝝆 for any two runs (Show your
work).
……..………………………………………..……………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………………….

……..………………………………………..……………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………………….

.………………………………………..……………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………..…………

………………………………………..……………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………..…………

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