Illustrated · 2 min
Types of Error
- Errors are common occurrences in chemistry and there are three specific types of errors that may occur during experiments.

Image source: Caroline Monahan
Systematic Errors:
Systematic errors are errors that have a clear cause and can be eliminated for future experiments
There are four different types of systematic errors:
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Instrumental: When the instrument being used does not function properly causing error in the experiment (such as a scale that reads 2g more than the actual weight of the object, causing the measured values to read too high consistently)
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Environmental: When the surrounding environment (such as a lab) causes errors in the experiment (the scientist cell phone's RF waves cause the geiger counters to incorrectly display the radiation)
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Observational: When the scientist inaccurately reads a measurement wrong (such as when not standing straight-on when reading the volume of a flask causing the volume to be incorrectly measured)
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Theoretical: When the model system being used causes the results to be inaccurate (such as being told that humidity does not affect the results of an experiment when it actually does)

Image source: Caroline Monahan
Random Errors:
Random errors occur randomly, and sometimes have no source/cause
There are two types of random errors
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Observational: When the observer makes consistent observational mistakes (such not reading the scale correctly and writing down values that are constantly too low or too high)
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Environmental: When unpredictable changes occur in the environment of the experiment (such as students repeatedly opening and closing the door when the pressure is being measured, causing fluctuations in the reading)

Image source: Caroline Monahan
Systematic vs. Random Errors
- Systematic errors and random errors are sometimes similar, so here is a way to distinguish between them:
Systematic Errors are errors that occur in the same direction consistently, meaning that if the scale was off by and extra 3lbs, then every measurement for that experiment would contain an extra 3 lbs. This error is identifiable and, once identified, they can be eliminated for future experiments
Random Errors are errors that can occur in any direction and are not consistent, thus they are hard to identify and thus the error is harder to fix for future experiments. An observer might make a mistake when measuring and record a value that's too low, but because no one else was there when it was measured, the mistake went on unnoticed.
Blunders:
Blunders are simply a clear mistake that causes an error in the experiment
Example: such as dropping a beaker with the solution before measuring the final mass

Image source: Caroline Monahan
