Making measurements and analysing data

Easy Medium

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Question 3

An astrophysicist determines the total power $P\,$ radiated by a spherical star using the Stefan-Boltzmann law:

\pi R^2 \sigma T^4

where $R\,$ is the radius of the star, $T\,$ is its surface temperature, and $\sigma\,$ is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant.

The percentage uncertainty in the measurement of $R\,$ is 2.4% and the percentage uncertainty in the measurement of $T\,$ is 1.5%. The uncertainty in $\sigma\,$ is negligible.

What is the percentage uncertainty in the calculated power $P$ ?

$3.9%3.9\%$

$7.8%7.8\%$

$10.8%10.8\%$

$12.6%12.6\%$

Making measurements and analysing data Questions

A Level
Physics
Making measurements and analysing data

A Level
Physics OCR A
Question bank