Summary:
- Some error or uncertainty always exists in any measurement.
- The amount of uncertainty depends both upon the skill of the measurer and upon the quality of the measuring tool.
- Many measuring tools such as rulers and graduated cylinders have small lines which need to be carefully read in order to make a measurement.
- Some balances are capable of measuring masses only to the nearest 0.1 g, while other highly sensitive balances can measure to 0.001 g or even better.
- The figure below shows two rulers making the same measurement of an object.