Practical Work Index
Practical Terminology:
Before getting to the practical work, there are some key words and terms that we all assume that you know thoroughly. Ensure that you do and, more importantly, that you can apply them to every single practical you complete AND to new practical situations that you may have dropped on you.
| Word / Term | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Independent Variable | The single variable that you are changing (plotted on the x-axis) |
| Dependent Variable | This is the variable that you are measuring during the experiment (plotted on the y-axis) |
| Control Variable | These are the variable that you keep constant throughout the experiment |
| Continuous Variable | Variables that are measured in numbers. They can get larger, smaller, negative or different intervals |
| Categoric Variable | Varibles that have names such as colours or types of plant |
| Accuracy | How close it is to the true value |
| Error or Uncertainty | The range in which the true value can be found |
| Measurement Error | Difference between the actual answer and that which you measured |
| Anomalies | Results that are not a part of the pattern or trend (Do not include these when calculating a mean) |
| Random Error | Natural spread of results when measuring, this can be reduced by calculating a mean |
| Systematic Error | Errors consistently caused by an outside influence such as the same person reading the volume in a measuring cylinder from the wrong angle |
| Zero Error | An error caused by the equipment not returning to zero such as a balance or a voltmeter |
| Fair Test | The only variable changed is the Independent Variable |
| Interval | The "distance" between your measurements |
| Range | The "distance" between the highest and lowest measurement |
| Repeatable | If the experiment is done again to the same method and gets the same result, it is repeatable |
| Reproducible | If the experiment is repeated by another person or with different equipment and gets the same result, it is reproducible |
| Resolution | The smallest degree to which you are measuring. IF you have 5.76g, the resolution is 0.01g |
| Validity | A valid experiment has all of the controls in place, is a fair test and its proceedure is perfectly suitable |
Practical lessons:
| Practical Title | Last review/update | Next review |
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This page was updated on: 1st August 2022