Astro 11
Lab 4

• In Lab 4, you will learn how to tell the latitude of one's position on Earth by measuring the altitude of Polaris. This lab will also help you to understand how one quantifies the level of uncertainty in a scientific measurement.


• You will need a calculator for this lab that is capable of performing square roots. Don't forget your calculator!


• When calculating the standard deviation of the class's measurements, on page 35 of the lab manual, remember that any number squared is positive. In other words, there should be no negative numbers in the third column on page 35.


• For parts k through n, remember that each time you are landing on a different planet that is not the same size as the previous one, even though you will put all the labels on the same circle on page 38.


• For the summary, be sure to provide some sort of an explanation for the relationship between the altitude of the north star and the latitude. Also, the physical steps needed to calculate the standard deviation of a set of numbers is not very important. What is important, however, is understanding what the standard deviation tells you about a set of numbers. For instance, think about the difference between a set of measurements with a large standard deviation and set with a small standard deviation.