Question

Why the diameters of pennies are not all the same, and what are the types of erros that could account for the differences in their diameters?

Answer 1

The diameters of the pennies are not same to define a marked difference in the value of a penny. The density of the penny can be determined from the volume and the mass of the pennnies and the pennies are made of copper ar alloys having a particular density. Thus for the maintaing the same density of the pennies of all denominations and also to differentiate among the pennies the only factor that is easily perceivable is the diameter.

Measurement errors may be classified as either random or systematic, depending on how the measurement was obtained (an instrument could cause a random error in one situation and a systematic error in another).

Random errors are statistical fluctuations in the measured data due to the precisional limiations of the measurement device. Random errors can be reduced by averaging over a large number of observations .

Systematic errors are reproducible inaccuracies that are consistently in the same direction. These errors are difficult to detect and cannot be analyzed statistically. Unlike random errors, systematic errors cannot be detected or reduced by increasing the number of observations.

While talikng about the measurement of diameters in the penny the error might rise from the instrument resolution of the verneir callipers (random error) , difficulty to check the zero of the instrument (systematic), and also the personal errors due to the parallax or the individual carelessness of the experimenter. This accounts for the blunders or the mistakes on the account of the experimenter for the experiment.