[Phys-L] Re: Reaction Time (was Re: Human Error?)

[Robert Cohen <Robert.Cohen@PO-BOX.ESU.EDU>]

I have my students estimate the measurement uncertainty by timing the
second hand of a clock as it moves through, say, 5 seconds.  Most are
off by around 0.1 s at most, which is less than the reaction time.

____________________________________________________
Robert Cohen; 570-422-3428; www.esu.edu/~bbq
East Stroudsburg University; E. Stroudsburg, PA 18301


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Forum for Physics Educators
> [mailto:PHYS-L@list1.ucc.nau.edu] On Behalf Of Spagna Jr., George
> Sent: Monday, May 02, 2005 8:04 AM
> To: PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU
> Subject: Re: Reaction Time (was Re: Human Error?)
<snip>
> Typical reaction times are on the order of .25 s; the
> stopwatches we use display precision on the order of +/- 5
> ms.  I suggest to my students that claiming the instrumental
> limit as the uncertainty of their measurement is
> unreasonable, especially for a single trial.  Repeated trials
> characteristically show a standard deviation consistent with
> reaction time, rather than the stopwatch's displayed precision.
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