TITLE: ACCURACY AND PRECISION OF LABORATORY GLASSWARE

INTRODUCTION
In spite of the fact that the terms accuracy and precision are often synonymously
used they do actually have distinct definitions. Accuracy is how close a set of
measures is to the real value. Precision is how close the measured values are to one
another. These are therefore important in obtaining measurements in the laboratory.
THEORY:

We use laboratory glassware with graduations to primarily hold liquids and measure
their volumes during experiments. For instance, beakers, graduated cylinders,
burette are examples of laboratory glassware. We can divide these into two main
types based on their use.

 Those that are manufactured to contain certain

volumes.
 Those that are manufactured to deliver certain
volumes.
How “good” the measuring devices are is based on their accuracy and precision. We
can describe accuracy using qualitative words, such as good and high accuracy. A
quantitative measure is more useful when comparing measuring devices based on
laboratory data. Quantitative measure of accuracy is called percent error, which is
more useful when comparing data.
Experimental Error – Theoretical Value
Percent Error ¿∨ ∨× 100 %
Theoretical value
The lower the percent error the more accurate the measuring device is.
Like accuracy, we can describe precision in qualitative terms(such as high precision
and low precision) or quantitative terms. Precision is usually expressed in terms of
the deviation of a set of results from the arithmetic mean of the set.
The standard deviation(S) is a measure of how precise the average is, that is, how
well the individual numbers agree with each other.

√
2 2 2
Standard deviation. S= ( x 1−x ) + ( x 2−x ) + ( x 3−x ) …
n−1
The relative standard deviation (RSD) is often times more convenient. It is expressed
in percent and is obtained by dividing the standard deviation by th mean, and
multiplying by 100 to express as a percentage.

S
RSD= *100
x
PROCEDURE:
GLASSWARE MEANT TO CONTAIN SPECIFIC VOLUMES
1. Obtained 100mL of water in a 200mL beaker.
2. Determined and recorded the mass of 150mL beaker, 50mL graduated
cylinder and 100mL volumetric flask using an analytical balance.
3. Added 100mL of water in volumetric flask, 50mL of water in beaker and 30mL
of water in the cylinder.

4. Recorded the mass of the glassware with the added liquid using the same
balance.
5. Poured the water from the glassware back into the 250mL beaker thoroughly.
Repeat step 3-4 for each piece of glassware.
6. Repeated the process (three trials each) with each piece of glassware.
GLASSWARE MEANT TO DELIVER SPECIFIC VOLUMES
1. Used the same pre-weighed 150mL beaker for weighing the water portions.
2. Obtained a 25mL burette and 2mL volumetric pipet and used each piece of
glassware to deliver 10mL of water for the burette and 2mL for the pipet to the
pre-weighed 150mL beaker.
3. Repeated the process to obtain three trials for each type of glassware.
DATA COLLECTION

Table 1. Volumes and masses for 100mL volumetric flask.

Mass of empty flask: 49.8232g Temperature of water: 30°C
Volume of water: 100mL Theoretical density of water: 0.9956g/mL
Trial Mass of flask with water(g) Mass of water (g) Calculated Density(g/mL)

1 149.1531 99.3299 0.993299

2 149.1325 99.3093 0.993093

3 149.1563 99.3331 0.993331

Table 2. Volumes and masses for 150mL beaker
Mass of empty beaker: 46.7016g Temperature of water: 30°C

Volume of water: 50mL Theoretical density of water: 0.995g/mL

Trial Mass of beaker with water (g) Mass of water (g) Calculated Density(g/mL)

1 100.2532 53.5516 1.071032

2 99.0156 52.314 1.04628

3 99.7594 53.0578 1.061156

Table 3. Volumes and masses for 50mL graduated cylinder

Mass of empty cylinder: 29.4087g Temperature of water: 30°C
Volume of water: 30mL Theoretical density of water: 0.9956g/mL
Trial Mass of cylinder with water (g) Mass of water (g) Calculated Density(g/mL)

1 58.3188 28.9101 0.96367

2 58.4995 29.0908 0.96969

3 58.7039 29.2952 0.97651

Table 4. Volumes and masses for 25mL burette

Mass of empty beaker: 46.7016g Temperature of water: 30°C
Volume of water: 10mL Theoretical density of water:0.9956g/mL

Trial Initial burette Final burette Volume Mass of Mass of Calculated

reading(mL) reading(mL) of beaker with water(g) density
water(ml) water (g) (g/mL)

1 0 10 10 56.5243 9.8227 0.98227

2 10 20 10 56.5221 9.8205 0.98205

3 0 10 10 56.5212 9.8196 0.98196

 Table 5. volumes and masses for pipet
Mass of empty beaker: 46.7016g Temperature of water: 30°C
Volume of water: 2mL Theoretical density of water: 0.9956g/mL

Trial Mass of beaker with water(g) Mass of water(g) Calculated Density

1 48.6925 1.9909 0.99545

2 48.6909 1.9893 0.99465

3 48.68922 1.98762 0.99381

Data Analysis
Calculations
Q.1
For volumetric flask:
Mass of water=mass of flask with water -mass of empty flask
1st trial
Mass of water= 149.1531g-49.8232g= 99.3299g
2nd trial
Mass of water=149.1325g-49.8232g= 99.3093g
3rd trial
Mass of water=149.1563g-49.8232g= 99.3331g

Q.2
For volumetric flask:
mass of water
Density of water=
volume of water
1st trial
99.3299 g
Density of water= = 0.993299g/mL
100 mL
2nd trial
 99.3093 g
Density of water= = 0.993093g/Ml
100 mL

3rd trial
99.3331 g
Density of water= = 0.993331g/mL
100 mL
Q.3
x1 + x 2 +… .
Average density=
n
For volumetric flask:
0.993299 g /mL+0.993093 g /mL+0.993331 g/mL
Average Density= = 0.9932g/mL
3
For beaker:
1.071032 g /mL +1.04628 g/mL+ 1.061156 g/mL
Average Density= = 1.059g/mL
3
For graduated cylinder:
0.96367 g/mL+ 0.96969 g /mL+0.97651 g/mL
Average Density= = 0.9700g/mL
3
Q.4

Percent Error= | Experimental value−Theoretical value

Theoretical value |×100

For volumetric flask:

Percent Error = | 0.993241 g /mL−0.9956 g /mL

0.9956 g/mL |
×100

=0.236942547%
=0.24%
Q.5
For volumetric flask:

√
Standard Deviation. S = ( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3
x −x + x −x + x −x ) …
n−1

√
( )2 ( )2 (
S= 0.993299−0.993241 + 0.993093−0.993241 + 0.993331−0.993241
3−1
)2

S=0.000129166
 Q.6
For volumetric flask:
S
Relative Standard Density= *100
x
O. 000129166
RSD= ×100=0.01300509
0.9932
RSD=0.013%
Table 8. Summary of glassware accuracy and precision
glassware Average Theoretical Percent error RSD
density(g/mL) density(g/mL)
150mL beaker 1.059 0.9956 6.4% 1.2%
50mL 0.9700 0.9956 2.6% 4.7%
graduated
cylinder
100mL 0.9932 0.9956 0.2% 0.01%
volumetric
flask
25mL burette 0.9821 0.9956 1.4% 0.02%
2mL pipet 0.9946 0.9956 0.1% 0.08%

Answers to Post-Lab Question

Q.1
 2mL pipet
 100mL volumetric flask
 25mL burette
 50mL graduated cylinder
 150mL beaker
Q.2
 The most accurate glassware is the pipet because it has the lowest
percentage error.
 The least accurate is the beaker because it has the highest percentage error.
Q.3
 100mL volumetric flask
 25mL burette
 2mL pipet
  150mL beaker
 50mL graduated cylinder
Q.4
 The most precise glassware is the volumetric flask because it has the lowest
relative standard density.
 The least precise is the graduated cylinder because it has the highest relative
standard density.
Q.5
 An increase in temperature would cause a decrease in density, and vice
versa.
Q.6

DISCUSSION
During the experiment, the pipet was the most accurate as it had the lowest
percentage error of 0.1%, while the beaker was the least accurate as it had the
highest percentage error of 6.4%. With regards to precision, the volumetric flask was
the most precise as its values were closely related giving a RSD of 0.01% with the
graduated cylinder being the least precise having a RSD of 4.7%. It is known to say
the burette is very accurate but, in this experiment, the case was different as it gave
unexpected results which might have been caused by errors in reading the lower
meniscus. The results of the experiment support the theory as the average densities
of each glassware was closely related to the given theoretical density.

CONCLUSION
In a nutshell the most accurate glassware was found to be the pipet and the most
precise as the volumetric flask.
REFFERENCE:
CH110 LAB MANUAL 2024.