Striving+for+accuracy+and+precision

Striving for Accuracy and precision

Do you turn in sloppy or incomplete work? Yes, sometimes Are you more anxious to get rid of the assignment than to check it for accuracy and precision? Yeah, of course

I have been committed to this old mistake for years and I am getting tired of it. In chemistry class we don't often have assignments, but when we do the working process is usually more important than the answer. However I often find myself being really careless about the process and procedures thus acquiring a faulty result. As I realize that in science, it is more about one's understanding than about what one retrieves as the answer, accuracy and precision seems to move up my priority list. I cant say that it has become the most important thing, but during the lab of titration it really made me learned the importance of it. In our first experiment, we were required to titrate HCL with NaOH and figure out the concentration of NaOH. Mrs. Knowles repeatedly warn us that this lab experiment all depends on our accuracy and precision of gathering the data and waiting for that "one drop of change" Me and my lab partner Rob, who happen to be male human beings of really high vigor level, did not really have the patience to wait for that "one drop of change". We rushed through the experiment thinking that it was enough to get the correct answer for the concentration of NaOH. But it came to our disappointment that we had too much of HCL added into the NaOH. After so many trials and rushed experimentation we were not able to succeed.

Then came the chance for us to set up our own lab of finding the concentration of acid in vinegar. I think we both learned our lesson, we waited patiently for that "one drop of change" to take place. The almost translucent purple color from the phenolphthalein, according to Mrs. Knowles is just "perfect". After all, to reach for that one goal, we needed all the precision and accuracy we can.