Name: _______________________________________________ Date: _________________________ Period: ________

Accuracy and Precision of Glassware Lab

Beginning Question: Do all measurement tools in the chemistry lab yield the same amount?
Hypothesis: __________________________________________________________________________________
Materials
- 100 mL beaker - 250 mL Erlenmeyer flask
- 10 mL graduated cylinder - electronic balance
- 100 mL graduated cylinder - 2 Plastic beakers for water
Before you Begin:
Each member of your group will be responsible for gathering data for one piece of glassware. You
should create a data table for that piece of equipment. A sample, with instructions, is below:

Data Table – On a separate sheet of paper

Be sure to include all the important parts of a data table! You want your title to be descriptive enough that you can
easily identify the information contained in each one.
Mass of empty glassware (be specific for which you are using!): ______________ g
Trial

1….3
Average
Mass of beaker
with water (g)
Mass of
SAMPLE
water (g)
Measured volume of
water (mL)
Density of water
(g/mL)
1.0000
1.0000
Calculated volume of
water (mL)

Procedure
1. Fill your plastic beaker with approximately 200mL of water. You will use this to pour water into your
glassware. (Trying to fill the glassware directly from the faucet can cause the glassware to slip out of your
hand and break in the sink – uh oh!)
2. Each member of your group should obtain one of the pieces of glassware from the materials section.
3. Use the glassware to measure out exactly 50 mL of water. Note: the small graduated cylinder will need to
be done in increments of 10 mL, then transferred to a larger container.
4. Place an empty plastic beaker on the electronic scale, then press the zero button. Pour the volume of water
you measured into the empty plastic beaker. Record the mass of the water in your data table.
5. Pour the water from your glassware back into your plastic beaker (from step 1), and repeat steps 3-5 two
more times for each piece of glassware (rotate who uses which piece of glassware).
6. You should have a total of three trials for each piece of glassware. Make sure to zero the scale before each
pouring the water in each time!
7. Complete your data tables by calculating the volume of water for each trial. Determine the “calculated
volume of water” using the density of water (1.0000 g/mL) and the mass of water (g), and the formula
V=m/D.
8. Find the averages for all three trials of all the glassware.
Data & Analysis: Combine the data from your group (averages) to fill in the table below.
Glassware Expected (Theoretical) Calculated (Actual) % Error
50 mL volumetric flask
50 mL
(class example)
100 mL beaker 50 mL
10 mL graduated cylinder 50 mL
100 mL graduated cylinder 50 mL
250 mL Erlenmeyer flask 50 mL
Sample Calculations
Percent error is a way of calculating how close your measurements or results were to an actual or accepted
answer. A lower percent error means that your results were very close (accurate), a higher percent error means
that your results were not very close (accurate). The formula for percent error is given below. Use the formula to
calculate the percent error for each piece of glassware. Show one sample calculation below.
|actual−theoretical|
Percent Error= ×100
theoretical

Discussion Questions
1. Which piece of glassware is most accurate? Give your answer in claim, evidence, reasoning format using
the percent errors you got above.

2. For each of the following situations, determine which type of glassware would be most appropriate.
(100mL beaker, 100mL graduated cylinder, 250mL Erlenmeyer flask) Each will be used only once. Note:
When working with laboratory glassware, scientists choose the glassware that is appropriate while also
efficient for the experiment. For example, if an experiment calls for using approximate volumes, it would be
a waste to carefully measure out the volumetric flask.
a. A lab calls for dissolving 5g of NaCl in approximately 150mL of water. _____________________
b. A lab calls for adding approximately 50mL of water to a solution. _____________________
c. A lab calls for adding 50.0 mL of water to a solution. _____________________

3. Errors: For each of the following situations during the accuracy experiment, determine if the mistake would
give a falsely high or falsely low calculation for water’s volume. For each situation, assume everything else
in the experiment is done correctly. Note: It may be helpful to try some hypothetical calculations.
a. When weighing a volumetric flask full of water, a student does not notice that the outside of the
flask is wet. HIGHER Volume LOWER Volume UNCHANGED Volume
Explanation:

b. When weighing an empty beaker, a student does not notice that there is some water inside.
HIGHER Volume LOWER Volume UNCHANGED Volume
Explanation:

c. Before placing an empty 10mL graduated cylinder on the balance to get its mass, a student does not
notice that the balance reads “-1.4444g.” When the student weighs the full 10mL graduated
cylinder later in the experiment, she correctly sets the balance to “0.0000g.”
HIGHER Volume LOWER Volume UNCHANGED Volume
Explanation: