Question

A metre stick is left outside in the sun and it expands. Explain how this will affect the sticks accuracy and precision. I'm just confused what they mean by the question lol The stick?? Expands???

Answer 1

The expansion of a metre stick (also known as meter stick) in the Sun will affect the meters stick accuracy by reducing the values of the actual length of the dimensions measured with the meter stick

The linear expansion, ΔL, of the meter stick is given according to the following formula;

ΔL = ∝·L₀·ΔT

Where;

ΔL = The expansion (change in length) of the meter stick

∝ = The coefficient of linear expansion for the meter stick

L₀ = The initial length of the meter stick = 1 meter

ΔT = The temperature change of the meter stick

Due to the small value of ∝ for a meter stick, the change in length of the meter stick is small but the difference will affect the accuracy of the measurements made by the meter stick and the length of an item with actual length of 1 meter can be given by the expanded meter stick as 99 cm

Explanation: