Question

Example 2.6 Two clocks are being tested against a standard clock located in a national laboratory. At 12:00:00 noon by the standard clock, the reading of the two clocks are:
Clock 1 Clock 2
Monday 12:00:05 10:15:06
Tuesday 12:01:15 10:14:59
Wednesday 11:59:08 10:15:18
Thursday 12:01:50 10:15:07
Friday 11:59:15 10:14:53
Saturday 12:01:30 10:15:24
Sunday 12:01:19 10:15:11
If you are doing an experiment that requires precision time interval' measurements.which of the two clocks will you prefer?

Answer 1

From the above data, clock 2 is more precise because its reading is very close to each other but the readings are totally different because of zero error in the clock. The zero error is easy to correct. So, clock 2 will be better to use. On the other hand, clock 1 is more accurate than clock 2. So, this clock is preferred for experiments.