Question

The stopwatch used by a student to measure velocity of a pulse in a slinky was of least count 0.1 second. He stops the stopwatch when a pulse has made 3 journeys from one end to the other of the slinky. He finds the seconds hand to be at 52nd division.

Calculate the correct time noted by him.

Answer 1

Least count of the pulse stopwatch is given by

`\Delta t = 0.1 s`

this means each division of the stopwatch will measure 0.1 s of time

After 3 journeys from one end to other we can see that total time that is measured here is shown by the clock as 52nd division

So here total time is given as

Time = (Number of division) (Least count)

now we will have

`T = 52 * 0.1s`

`T = 5.2 s`