In: Physics
Suppose you were designing two experiments to measure the same quantity “Y”. Through analysis of both experimental systems, found; Experiment 1, Y depends on a X2 , and for Experiment 2, Y depends on Z4. Here, “X” and “Z” are names of variables that you can measure in the lab. If you have the same amount of resources to perform and equal number of measurements, which experiment should you perform (there is a correct answer here!). Explain your rationale
For the first experiment,
And for the second experiment,
For a small error in measuring quantity X, we get the error in Y as,
For a small error in measuring quantity Z, we get the error in Y as,
Assuming that the errors in X and Z are same, for measuring the same value of Y, we can compare the amount of errors in Y for different experiments,
From comparison we can see that,
Therefore the first experiment generates lesser error in the measured variable. Therefore first experiment is better choice than the second experiment.