Mean And Absolute Deviation Lab Report

How does the calculator results compare to the mean and absolute deviation? How do these results compare to your own individual data? Which method is more accurate? The mean was 10 g/mL, while the calculator’s results for the line of best fit showed that the density was 9.615736862 g/mL. This is not a large difference, but the calculated average is more accurate in comparison to the accepted value of the density of lead, or 11.343716 g/mL. The average absolute deviation, when done by hand, was .8 g/mL. Because 10-9.615736862 is .4 (when taking significant figures into account), this shows that the difference between the calculator results and the results of the line of best fit by hand is in the range of the average absolute deviation, as it is less than .8
This may have gone unnoticed and when it was massed with the water on it, there may have been an extra hundredth of a gram, for example because there was water on the outside that contributed to the overall mass. An improvement for this error would be to wipe down the graduated cylinder before placing it on the electric scale so that the extra water was not massed. Another source of experimental error in this lab is that the pieces of metal may have been slightly wet when they were placed into the water, which also may have contributed extra mass. This could be improved by using different metals or trying to pat the pieces of metal as dry as possible before placing them into the graduated cylinders. A question raised in performing this lab and analyzing this data may relate to the line of regression’s accuracy. For example, could certain points be deleted in order to have a more accurate results? If so, which ones, and what set of points would give the most accurate slope of lead, closest to 11.343716