Question.

(a) You are given a thread and a metre scale. How will you estimate the diameter of the thread?

(b) A screw gauge has a pitch of 1.0 mm and 200 divisions on the circular scale. Do you think it is possible to increase the accuracy of the screw gauge arbitrarily by increasing the number of divisions on the circular scale?

(c) The mean diameter of a thin brass rod is to be measured by vernier callipers. Why is a set of 100 measurements of the diameter expected to yield a more reliable estimate than a set of 5 measurements only?

solution:

(a) Wrap the thread on a uniform smooth rod in such a way that the coils thus formed are very close to each other. Measure the length of the thread using a metre scale. The diameter of the thread is given by the relation,

Diameter $=\frac{\text { Length of thread }}{\text { Number of turns }}$

(b) It is not possible to increase the accuracy of a screw gauge by increasing the number of divisions of the circular scale. Increasing the number divisions of the circular scale will increase its accuracy to a certain extent only.

(c) A set of 100 measurements is more reliable than a set of 5 measurements because random errors involved in the former are very less as compared to the latter.