Question

A group of students measured the time taken between seeing

and hearing another student clashing two pieces of wood
together. The distance from the source of sound to the students
was 250m.

After repeating the experiment 5 times, they obtained the
following timings in seconds: 0.73, 0.78, 0.69, 0.81, 0.77.

Use their measurements to calculate the speed of sound.

Why was it advisable for the students to repeat 5 times?

Answer 1

The speed of sound can be gotten by simply finding the average of the results.

=0.756s

It is advisable for the students to repeat 5 times because it allows them to (a) estimate the variability of the results (how close to each other they are) and (b) to increase the accuracy of the estimate.