Question

In an effort to be thorough in a lab, you take the following three measurements of volume: 200.01 mL, 200.07 mL, and 199.99 mL. The accepted value is 200.00. Please describe the accuracy and precision of the measurements.

a) The measurements are both accurate and precise.
b) The measurements are precise but not accurate.
c) The measurements are accurate but not precise.
d) The measurements are neither accurate nor precise

Answer 1

The three volume measurements are both accurate and precise because they are very close to the accepted value and to each other.

Step-by-step explanation:

To assess whether the measurements of volume are accurate and precise, we need to understand what these terms mean. Accuracy refers to how close the measured values are to the accepted value, while precision refers to how close the measured values are to each other. In the given situation, the three measurements are 200.01 mL, 200.07 mL, and 199.99 mL, with the accepted value being 200.00 mL.

Given this information, we can determine that the measurements are both accurate and precise. The reason for this is that all three measurements are very close to the accepted value of 200.00 mL (accuracy) and also very close to each other (precision), within a hundredth of a milliliter. Therefore, the correct answer to the student's question is (a) The measurements are both accurate and precise.