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AQA · GCSE · Physics · Higher

Measuring Cylinder Resolution

Q07.3 1 mark

Figure 11 shows the measuring cylinder used to measure the volume of the metal ring.

Figure 11
Figure 11

Figure 11

Enlarged question image

Figure 11
Table 2
Volume of water in cm³Volume of water and ring in cm³Volume of ring in cm³
5.05.40.4

The true volume of the ring was 0.44 cm³.

Even without using the string, the measuring cylinder could not give an accurate value for the volume of the ring.

Give one reason why.

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Marking points

  1. 1 Specifies that the cylinder cannot resolve 0.44 cm³ to two decimal places, or gives its resolution as 0.2 cm³ (allow 0.1 cm³).

Full-mark answer

The measuring cylinder has a resolution of 0.2 cm³, so it cannot measure a volume such as 0.44 cm³ to two decimal places.

Why this answer loses marks

The resolution is too low.

This is unqualified. Explain that the cylinder’s smallest division cannot distinguish the decimal precision needed for the ring’s volume.