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-----Original Message-----_______________________________________________
From: Forum for Physics Educators
[mailto:PHYS-L@list1.ucc.nau.edu] On Behalf Of Aaron Titus
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2005 1:31 PM
To: PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU
Subject: Re: Human Error?
Well, we should start a support group.
However, I would like to add a few of my thoughts on the
topic. First, up to now, I haven't explicitly taught error
analysis and uncertainty in my physics lab. I am not proud of
that, and I do have goals to change this. Second, there are
situations where "human error" plays a role; however, those
things should be described precisely (no pun intended). For
example, uncertainty in timing with a stopwatch is not due to
the measuring device but due to reaction time. I suppose that
a proper way to measure this is to repeat the measurement
many times and find the standard deviation of the
measurements. Of course, students should refer to this
uncertainty as being due to reaction time and should
calculate it appropriately.
Aaron