A tiny metallic rectangular sheet has length and breadth of and , respectively. Using a specially designed screw gauge which has pitch of and divisions in the circular scale, you are asked to find the area of the sheet. In this measurement, the maximum fractional error will be , where is:
JEE Physics 2025 Question with Solution
Answer
Correct answer:3
Step-by-step solution
Standard Method
Given: Length of the sheet , breadth of the sheet , pitch of screw gauge , and number of circular scale divisions .
Find: The value of if the maximum fractional error in area is .
First, calculate the least count of the screw gauge:
The absolute error in each linear measurement is therefore .
Fractional error in length:
Fractional error in breadth:
Since area , the maximum fractional error in area is the sum of the fractional errors:
Now compare with the given form:
So,
Therefore, the value of is .
Using error propagation for a product
Given: , , screw gauge pitch , and circular scale divisions .
Find: Maximum fractional error in area written as .
For a screw gauge, the least count is:
Thus,
Now compute the fractional errors separately:
For the product of two measured quantities,
Substituting values:
Hence, in the form , we get .
Therefore, the final answer is .
Common mistakes
Using the area value first and then taking absolute error as is incorrect because is the error in each length measurement, not in area. Instead, first find fractional errors in length and breadth, then add them for the area.
Taking the least count as is wrong because screw gauge least count is pitch divided by number of circular scale divisions. The correct expression is .
Subtracting the fractional errors or averaging them is incorrect because for a product , the maximum fractional errors add. Use .
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