Re: [Phys-L] ?simple experiment limited by fluctuations

[John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>]

On 11/21/18 6:33 AM, Anthony Lapinski wrote:

> 1) drop ruler and catch to measure distance
> 2) measure diameter of circle cut out of cardboard
> 3) measure height of candle flame
> 4) measure mass of a piece of dry ice
> 5) use shortwave radio to measure the time on your watch compared to Universal Time

Nice!

I assume the point of (1) is to measure reaction time.

I assume (2) revolves around the idea that you can measure
 more accurately than you can cut.  Also, paper products
 change size as a function of humidity, so one could do
 a longitudinal study.

I assume (5) would use GPS as the reference nowadays,
 and would measure both slope and intercept ...

 But what is this "watch" whereof you speak?
 Do students wear watches where you are?  They don't around here.
 Cellphones are automagically synced to GPS.

 Solution:  Their graphing calculators probably have a time-of-day
 clock, which (a) is not synced to GPS, and (b) has enough drift
 to be easily measurable.