Experimental error of the Burnett experiment

✍ Scribed by G.S. Kell

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1981
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 941 KB
• Volume: 105
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0378-4371
• DOI: 10.1016/0378-4371(81)90109-6

✦ Synopsis

Analysis of the errors of pressure measurement in a Burnett experiment shows them to be primarily multiplicative over most of the pressure range. In such a case the geometric mean is the best mean to average repeated measurements. A linear model of error to provide a basis for practical calculations is introduced by determining the arithmetic mean of the logarithms of the pressures. Analysis of the Burnett experiment turns on ratios of pressures, and systematic multiplicative errors cancel in these ratios. A method is developed to weight the low-pressure observations in the range where the errors are primarily additive. The weighting of the data and the errors of the virial coefficients determined in the analysis are illustrated with data for helium at 25°C.