Vernier Caliper Practice for Finding Cylinders’ Dia & Volume

vernier caliper outer diameterCylinder is a basic geometrical object used in various applications of daily life and industrial world.  Some of the very common examples of straight cylindrical shapes are flat cylindrical glasses, ball bearings, gas cylinders etc. Thus if a person understands how to work out the volume of a cylinder, then these dimensions can be sorted for similar objects we interact in daily life. There are different type of calipers used for measuring objects. This practice experiment can be used by beginners to get well aware about Vernier Calipers.

Measuring the Length of the cylinder

We will quickly summarize the procedure of determining the length of the cylinder which has been discussed in detail in a previous article titled How to Measure the Length of an Object or Cylinder Using a Vernier Caliper”.

Holding the object/cylinder gently between the jaws, note the reading on the main scale just to the left of the Vernier scale zero. This is the Main Scale Reading (M.S.R). Next count the number of divisions on the vernier scale till the division which aligns exactly with the main scale. This is the Vernier Coincidence (n). Multiply this value with the least count to obtain the Vernier Scale reading and add the value to the Main Scale Reading to find the Total Reading. (M.S.R + (n x L.C))

Repeat the procedure from different positions and use a table to note down the subsequent values. Use these to find the average value for the length of the cylinder.

Finding the Diameter of the Cylinder

Grip the face of the cylinder along its diameter gently using the lower jaws as before. Measure the Main Scale Reading (M.S.R) and the Vernier Coincidence(n) as done previously and post the values in a table. Rotate the cylinder and take the readings from different positions. Do this at least 5 times and take the average of the values to find the mean diameter of the cylinder.

Determining the Cylinder’s Volume: The Volume of a cylinder is given by the formula V= pi x r^2 x L. Insert the values of the mean length (L), mean radius (mean diameter/2) and pi (pi= 3.14159) into the formula to obtain the volume of the cylinder.

a)Length of the cylinder :

S.No M.S.R                acm Vernier Coincidence   (n) Fraction   b=(n-x)*L.C Total Reading (a+b) cm
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Average length of the cylinder l = ……… cm.

b) Diameter of the cylinder :

S.No M.S.R                acm Vernier Coincidence   (n) Fraction   b=(n-x)*L.C Total Reading (a+b) cm
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Average diameter of the cylinder  d = 2r = …………. cm,

Mean radius of the cylinder           r = d/2 = ………….. cm,

Volume of the cylinder                   V = pi x r^2 x l

 

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