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Physics 4531 Physics Panitia 2007

PRECAUTIONARY STEPS FOR INVESTIGATIVE EXPERIMENTS:


Paper 3: Question 3 and 4 [1 mark]

No. Type of experiment Precautions that can be taken


involving;
1 Light a. Experiment must be carried out in darkened
room.
b. Lens, screen and object must be in line
c. Avoid parallax error by placing the eye such
that the line of view is perpendicular to the
scale of the ruler.
2 Spring a. make sure the spring is not loaded beyond
the elastic limit. (spring return to original
length when load is taken off).
b. Avoid parallax error by placing the eye such
that the line of view is perpendicular to the
scale of the ruler.

3 Electric a. All connections must be secure/tight.


b. Off the switch after readings are taken to
prevent wires from heating up (resistance
increase)
c. Avoid parallax error by placing the eye such
that the line of view is perpendicular to the
scale of the ammeter/ voltmeter.
4. Heat a. Liquid must be stirred constantly so that
temperature rises evenly.
b. Alluminium block must be wrapped with
insulating material to prevent heat lost.
c. Thermometer bulb should be smeared with oil
to give better thermal contact with the block.
d. Avoid parallax error by placing the eye such
that the line of view is perpendicular to the
scale of the thermometer.
5 Measuring instruments a. Avoid parallax error by placing the eye such
such as ammeter, that the line of view is perpendicular to the
voltmeter, metre rule ... scale read.
b. Take into account zero error of instrument.

* [Student can give more than one answer for this question. No
penalty for the answer which is unsuitable]

* unacceptable answer
Avoid parallax error. [without any further explanation]

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