In an experiment of measuring the refractive index of a glass slab using travelling microscope in physics lab, a student measures real thickness of the glass slab as 5.25 mm and apparent thickness of the glass slab as 5.00 mm. Travelling microscope has 20 divisions in one cm on main scale and 50 di…

Question

In an experiment of measuring the refractive index of a glass slab using travelling microscope in physics lab, a student measures real thickness of the glass slab as 5.25 mm and apparent thickness of the glass slab as 5.00 mm. Travelling microscope has 20 divisions in one cm on main scale and 50 divisions on vernier scale is equal to 49 divisions on main scale. The estimated uncertainty in the measurement of refractive index of the slab is x/(10)×10⁻³, where x is .

Accepted Answer

41. Step 1: the least count. 1 MSD=(1 cm)/(20)=0.5 mm, and 50 VSD=49 MSD, so LC=(0.5)/(50)=0.01 mm. Step 2: the refractive index. μ=(tᵣₑₐₗ)/(tₐₚₚₐᵣₑₙₜ)=(5.25)/(5.00)=1.05. Step 3: combine the two uncertainties, each equal to the least count. (Δμ)/μ=(0.01)/(5.25)+(0.01)/(5.00)=0.0019048+0.0020000=0.0039048. Δμ=1.05×0.0039048=4.1×10⁻³. Writing this as x/(10)×10⁻³ gives x=41.

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