

While measuring devices strive for complete accuracy, they may not yield entirely accurate results. Other times, errors in the chemistry lab result from instrumental limitations. For instance, several chemists might get different answers when measuring a piece of rope or rubber band if they do not know what the tension is supposed to be. For example, when reading a ruler you may read the length of a pencil as being 11.4 centimeters (cm), while your friend may read it as 11.3 cm.Some errors in the chemistry lab result from an unclear definition or expectation of what the experiment is supposed to record.

If two people are rounding, and one rounds down and the other rounds up, this is procedural error.

A pH meter that reads 0.5 off or a calculator that rounds incorrectly would be sources of instrument error.

Instrumental error happens when the instruments being used are inaccurate, such as a balance that does not work (SF Fig.
