Applied Physics Project
Project Name: Measuring and Graphing Activity
Timeline: 2 days
Description: Complete the four Parts of this activity with a partner.
Part 1:
Dimensioning: we use units of measurement everyday sometimes with-out even realizing it. Using knowledge you and
your partner already have or the internet to complete the 20 statements with the units of measurements below. The units
of measurement maybe used more than once or not at all. Then answer the questions.
Bushels
Feet
Kilometers
Milligrams
Seconds
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)
13)
14)
15)
16)
17)
18)
19)
20)
Centimeters
Grams
Kilowatt Hours
Minutes
Square Miles
Days
Hours
Meters
Percent
Stories
Degrees Celsius
Inches
Miles
Persons
Terms
Degrees Fahrenheit
Kilocalories
Miles Per Hour
Pounds
Yards
The Sears Tower in Chicago is 110 ____high.
The Empire State Building in New York is 1,250_______ high.
The Nile is the World’s longest river. It is 4,180 ____ long.
The Amazon River in South America is _____ 6.296 long.
Alaska has the lowest recorded temperature of any state. In the 1981 the temperature was recorded at -81_____.
The Highest recorded temperature in the United States was in Death Valley when the mercury reached 57 _____.
The world-record rainfall occurred in Cherrapunji, India where 1042 ____ of rain fell in one year. In the United
States, the record is held by Kukui, Hawaii, where 739___ (or1, 878____) fell in 1982.
The largest recorded hailstone ever to fall landed in Coffeyville, Kansas, in 1979. It had a diameter of 44.5 ____
(17.5_____).
The longest punt in the NFL history was Steve O’Neal of the New York Jets. He kicked the football 98_____.
In 1953 A.C. Glassel caught a marlin that weighed in at 1,560______.
The dimensions of a professional basketball court are 94____ by 50____.
In 1986, Bobby Rahal won the Indianapolis 500 averaging a speed of 170.722_____ for all 500___.
In August 1989, the U.S. spacecraft Voyager passed the planet Neptune at a time when the planet was 2.8 billion
____ from the sun. By contrast, the Earth averages only 93 million _____ from the sun.
The temperature at the core of the Earth is estimated to be 11,000 _____.
The world’s fastest aircraft was the Lockheed SR-71 A/B Black bird. Before being retired , it clocked a record
speed of 2,193.67 ______.
Iowa is the biggest corn producer in the country. Each year it averages over 1.6 million _____.
One large cooked egg yields an average of 6_____fat and 274_____ cholesterol.
A 16-year-old male requires an average of 2,800____ of energy per day while an average 16-year-old female
requires only 2,100___.
Before its breakup, the world’s largest country was the USSR. It had an area of 8,649,496 _____, compared to
only 3,615,105 _____ for the United States.
The United States produces and consumes more electric energy than any other nation. Each year we produce
over 2,500 billion_____ while the entire nation of China produces only about 400 billion _____.
1) Why is it important that all measurements be accompanied by the appropriate units?
2) When you measure in object with an instrument like a ruler there is always some uncertainty in the measurement.
Explain.
3) Explain the differences between Precision and accuracy.
Part 2
Indirect Measuring:
Suppose you wanted to measure the thickness of a piece of paper with a ruler. You would have to use indirect
measuring. Pick three different books from around the room. Measure with your rulers the thickness of all the pages not
counting the covers. Then divide that number by the number of pages. This process is using indirect measurement to
determine the thickness of the paper. Fill in the graph below with the information
Title of Book
Thickness of Pages
Total Pages
Thickness of one Page
Suppose you want to measure the height of a tall tree or building with-out being able to climb it. Use the following three
procedures to determine the height of the flag pole outside of the Tech Ed wing. Then Fill the information in the Graph
below.
Using Shadows On a sunny day, measure the length of a tree's shadow. Measure the length of the shadow of something of a known height (for
example a person, a measuring stick or a pole). Divide the length of the tree's shadow by the length of the person, measuring stick or pole's shadow
and then multiply it by the height of the person, measuring stick or pole – the answer is the height of the tree.
Using a Stick - Choose a stick that is exactly the same length as the distance from fingertips (arm fully stretched out) to eye. Hold the stick vertically
(arm at full stretch) and walk away from the tree until the tree height is the same as the stick. Measure the distance to the tree – this is its height.
Bending Over - Get an adult to walk away from a tree until they are just about able to see the top of the tree when they bend over and look through
their legs. The distance they are from the tree is roughly the same as the height of the tree. This works because an adult bending over and looking up
at the top of the tree creates about a 45 degree angle. This creates a triangle where the base and the height are about equal – so the distance from the
tree is about the same as the height of the tree.
Method used
Height of Tree
Which method do you feel is the most accurate and why?
Measuring the volume of a single drop of liquid can be difficult with-out complex and expensive equipment. However you can use indirect
measurement in order to determine the volume of the drops. This technique can be used in other operations as well.
Let’s say that you want to find the volume of one drop of water from an eye dropper. If you dropped a single drop in a 10-ml graduated cylinder you
could hardly see it let alone take a good measurement of the volume. Follow this procedure for the following liquids to determine the volume of a
drop of each liquid. Use the provided eye droppers and fill the 10-ml cylinder counting how many drops it takes in order to fill the graduated
cylinders to 10-ml. Then divide the volume of water by the number of drops and fill in the graph below Then Answer the questions.
Liquid
Water
Water with Detergent
Rubbing Alcohol
Salad Oil
1)
Number of Drops to fill 10ml
Volume of single drop
Why do you think the size of the drop varies from liquid to liquid and does that tell you about the liquids?
Part 3
Indirect measurement of Mass
Small Objects
The mass of a single grain of rice or sand is too small to register on most standard class room scales that we have in our
room. So in order to determine the mass of one grain of sand and one grain of rice count out 100 grains of each the use
the balance and scale to weigh the total weight of all 100 grains of each. Divide the weight of 100 grains by 100 to
determine the weight of one grain.
One Grain of sand:____________
One Grain of rice:_____________
Part 4
Measuring of distance
Standing at the goal post on this end of the field use the following technique in order to the distance from the corner of the
building to the lower fields baseball back stop.
How to Estimate Distances
Your arm is about ten times longer than the distance between your eyes. That fact, together with a bit of applied trigonometry, can be used to estimate distances between you
and any object of approximately known size.
Imagine, for example, that you're standing on the side of a hill, trying to decide how far it is to the top of a low hill on the other side of the
valley. Just below the hilltop is a barn, which you feel reasonably sure is about 100 feet wide on the side facing you.
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Hold one arm straight out in front of you, elbow straight, thumb pointing up.
Close one eye, and align one edge of your thumb with one edge of the barn.
Without moving your head or arm, switch eyes, now sighting with the eye that was closed and closing the other.
Your thumb will appear to jump sideways as a result of the change in perspective.
How far did it move? (Be sure to sight the same edge of your thumb when you switch eyes.)
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
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Let's say it jumped about five times the width of the barn, or about 500 feet.
Now multiply that figure by the handy constant 10 (the ratio of the length of your arm to the distance between your eyes).
Now you get the distance between you and the barn—5,000 feet, or about one mile. The accompanying diagram should make
the whole process clear.
With a little practice, you'll find that you can perform a quick thumb-jump estimate in just a few seconds, and the result will usually be
more accurate than an out-and-out guess. At a minimum, it will provide some assurance that the figure is in the ballpark—which, in many
cases, is as close as you need to get.
What is the Distance??