High School

The mean time period of a seconds pendulum is 5.00 s, and the mean absolute error in the time period is 0.10 s. What can be said about any measurement of the time period?

1) It will be exactly 5.00 s
2) It will be greater than 5.00 s
3) It will be less than 5.00 s
4) It will vary around 5.00 s

Answer :

Final answer:

The measurement of the time period will vary around 5.00 s.

Explanation:

The mean time period of a seconds pendulum is 5.00 s with a mean absolute error of 0.10 s. Based on this information, we can conclude that the measurement of the time period will vary around 5.00 s.

This is because the mean absolute error indicates that measurements of the time period can be slightly higher or lower than the mean value of 5.00 s. The actual measurements can fall within a range of 4.90 s to 5.10 s.

Therefore, option 4) It will vary around 5.00 s is the correct answer.