CENCO® AP Physics Lab 1.01: Measurement and Error

Explore precision and error in measurement.

Introducing the new CENCO AP Physics lab series!

Ideal for AP Physics 1 and 2, AP Physics C, IB DP Physics, and advanced/honors physics courses, each of the 35 experiments is aligned with the revised College Board AP curriculum. These innovative labs go way beyond traditional exercises, turning real-world scenarios into true guided-inquiry investigations. Students are given a goal, but the investigation is driven by their ideas. As they draw conclusions, students report their results using the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning model. The teacher guides and student manuals are authored and reviewed by AP Physics teachers with decades of combined experience, so you can trust the setups to be successful in your classroom. All labs come complete with instructions and materials for one lab group of 2 to 4 students. For your convenience, labs are packaged to allow you to purchase only what is required for each experiment.

Virtually every science course begins with a basic measurement experiment, but this innovative three-part investigation moves way beyond arbitrary blocks of wood or metal cylinders. In part 1, students use Vernier calipers to investigate variation among samples of a manufactured item they use in their daily lives. In part 2, students graph a common geometric relationship between two measured variables. In part 3, they design a method to indirectly measure the mass of a coin, using the landmark Millikan oil drop experiment as a model. Like any good lab, this activity requires students to review the basic principles of scientific investigations: collecting reliable measurements, forming meaningful hypotheses, and supporting their conclusion with evidence.