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Questions tagged [measurements]

For questions related to methods, analysis, accuracy, presentation, or interpretation of measurements. It is not intended for abstract quantum measurement questions such as how a wave function collapses during measurement or how the Heisenberg uncertainty principle constrains quantum measurements.

9 votes
2 answers
2k views

Continued calibration of atomic clocks

First off I am not well versed in physics, but as I understand things the second is defined by the ceasium fountain clock which is calibrated as follows How was the first atomic clock calibrated?. Now ...
Emma Harris's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
41 views

Determine thermal emissivity of material

Is there a practical way of determining it without a lab setup? interested in Aluminum alloys ADC-10 and ADC-12
kellogs's user avatar
  • 109
2 votes
1 answer
84 views

What exactly does the quantum mutual information measure? [duplicate]

Quantum mutual information (QMI) is often said to be the quantum mechanical analog of Shannon mutual information (MI). I realize they can be written with the same formula: $$S_x+S_y-S_{xy} \ ,$$ where ...
Mat's user avatar
  • 201
2 votes
0 answers
63 views

Vernier Caliper Measurement [duplicate]

My doubt is regarding the formula for measurement using a vernier caliper. In my class we were taught the following formula: $Reading = MSR + n(LC)$ (p) (here MSR stands for main scale reading and LC ...
entropy's user avatar
  • 72
1 vote
1 answer
31 views

Relationship between density and temperature - How to know the precise temperature at which a bell inside a Galileo Thermometer will sink?

A Galileo Thermometer consists of bells placed inside a tube that's filled with liquid. As the temperature increases, the fluid density decreases. This leads to a decrease in the buoyant force, and ...
jazzblaster's user avatar
14 votes
4 answers
10k views

If gravitation is negligible for small masses, how was Cavendish's experiment successful with balls much smaller than celestial objects?

If gravitation is negligible for small masses, then how was Cavendish's experiment a success since the balls used were very small compared to the sizes of celestial objects?
JAYANT SINGH GBPP's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
265 views

Are zeros to the right really significant? [duplicate]

In one of YouTube lectures about significant digits I saw this: I was completely shocked. Both scientific notation numbers when converted to integer would represent same quantity of $1200 \text{kg}$ ...
Agnius Vasiliauskas's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
37 views

Does changing units affect Significant Figures

Does changing the unit of a physical quantity has no influence whatsoever on the number of significant figures? Suppose the mass of a particle is given as 0.060kg 0.060 has 2 significant figures as ...
Vignesh's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
57 views

States of entangled particles after no/partial/full measurement

I'm getting contradictory information from the internet concerning entangled particles, measurement, and state knowledge that I'm hoping can be cleared up with a simple setup. Say we have a source of ...
user401228's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
18 views

Why is my pyrgeometer calibrated as if it has $a >1$ emissivity?

I've acquired an SL-510-SS upward-looking pyrgeometer. In the manual it gives the formula for how to compute the downwelling infrared it picks up: Clearly the $k_2$ coefficient is the emissivity of ...
Cloudyman's user avatar
  • 1,225
1 vote
1 answer
61 views

Why is the uncertainty of the Gravitational Constant $G$ many orders of magnitude larger than that of other important fundamental constants?

Why is the numerical range of uncertainty of the Gravitational Constant $G$ many orders of magnitude larger than that of other important fundamental constants? What are the challenges in precise ...
Alex's user avatar
  • 396
1 vote
2 answers
96 views

How were angles measured in ancient times?

What is one degree (angle measurement)? I know that we calculate one second using atomic clock, one kilogram using Planck's constant, one meter using speed of light but how do we define one degree? If ...
Payal Payal's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
66 views

The Principle of Homogeneity of dimensions states that you can add,subtract quantities with same dimensions but we cannot add a constant with an angle

Both a constant and a plane and solid angle are dimensionless ie they have the same dimensions , so according to principle of homogeneity should you not be able to equate them ? But it would be absurd ...
Aryan's user avatar
  • 23
0 votes
0 answers
39 views

How to measure the vibration of an object on a video shot at high speed camere?

I have a video fragment which I split into frames (pictures). I use them in pairs (1 frame with 2, 2 with 3, etc.) to find shifts on x and y axes (i.e. how much I need to shift 1 frame to make it like ...
tryingmybest's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
47 views

Vernier Calliper Reading and significant figures

What if in Vernier Calliper the Vernier Scale division (zero mark) coincides with the Main Scale Reading(MSR) will we take 'n' as 0 or 10 in the formula Reading = MSR + LC (Least Count) x n? 1) If we ...
The's user avatar
  • 13

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