Metre Scale
Using an ordinary metre scale graduated in millimetres to measure the length of a small object, what is the smallest length that can be read directly from the scale?
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About This Question
- Subject
- physics
- Chapter
- experimental skills
- Topic
- metre scale
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Year
- 2025
Solution
Correct Answer:
1 mm
NCERT Class 11, Chapter 2 emphasises that the least count of an instrument sets the smallest quantity it can measure, and for a standard metre scale graduated in millimetres the least count equals the smallest marked division, which is 1 mm. Although a skilled observer may estimate a fraction of a division by eye, the smallest value that can be read directly and reliably from the markings is one millimetre. The value 0.1 mm is wrong because that resolution requires a vernier calipers, not the unaided markings of a metre scale. The value 1 cm is wrong because it quotes the coarse centimetre gradation, ignoring the finer millimetre subdivisions actually present. The value 0.5 mm is wrong because half-millimetre marks are not standard on an ordinary metre scale, so it cannot be read directly. A consistency check confirms that the direct reading limit matches the finest engraved division, which for a millimetre-graduated metre scale is exactly 1 mm, and finer measurements demand a higher-resolution instrument.
This easy difficulty physics question is from the chapter experimental skills, covering the topic of metre scale. It appeared in the 2025 exam.
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