PROCESS DATA

REPRESENTATION AND
ANALYSIS
LOGARITHMIC COORDINATES

Log-log and semi-log plots useful for

 when experimental data span many orders of
magnitude
 determining functional relationships of data
 determining constants for fitting experimental
data to
o exponential function y=a e bx

o power law function y=a x b

Large Range of Experimental Data

Experimentally determined relationship between

friction factor and Reynolds number for sphere
moving through a fluid given below. Analyse the
data by plotting

Reynolds Number 0.9 0.33 0.12 0.074 0.023 0.0091 0.0065 0.0027 0.0011
Friction Factor 2 7 7 3 200 3 2 4 3 0 0 2 635 3 700 8 888 21 900

Plot on normal graph paper not very useful

Data crowded near origin and lie very near to the
axes.

Graph not very useful for interpolating and checking

suspicious data.

Plot the logarithm of the data

Plot shows a linear correlation and reveals that point
measured at Re=0.023 is suspect
Relationship can be expressed as f =a ℜ (a power law).
b

Constants a and b can be determined from graph

Instead of computing the base-10 logs plot the data
on a log-log graph paper
1
9
8

1
9
8

1
9
8

1
9
8

1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1

Gradations of both abscissa and ordinates increase

logarithmically.

Gridlines not evenly spaced - distance bet 0.1 and

0.2 greater than bet 0.9 and 1.0
1 000 is halfway bet 100 and 10 000 bec. log103 is
halfway bet log102 and log104
Determining Functional Relationship

Consider the three functions

y = 5x y = x3 and y = ex

plot of these functions on normal graph paper

5x is linear, difficult to distinguish x3 from ex

plot on log-log paper

both 5x and x3 are linear

any power law function plotted on log-log paper is

linear
plot on semi-log paper

ex is linear

any exponential function plotted on semi-log paper

is linear
Determining the Constants in the Equations

Consider the Reynolds number vs friction factor plot

- ignoring erroneous data point
Friction factor

10000

1000

100

Reynolds number
0.01 0.1 1

straight line on log-log plot means the functional

relationship is a power law
f =a ℜ or log f =b log ℜ+log a
b
10 10 10

rise log10 10000−log 10 100

b=slope= = =−1.009
run log 10 0.0024−log 10 0.23

to find a use any set of given data

f 3700
a= −1.009
= =22.98
ℜ 0.0065−1.009

final relationship f =22.98 ℜ −1.009

The absorption of radiation by material can be

modeled by
R ( x )=Ro e βx
R(x) is the count rate (Geiger counter clicks in one
minute)
Ro is count rate with no shielding
x is thickness of shielding material
β is a constant

The table shows measurements of the rate at which

radiation particles emitted by 55Fe are detected when
a Geiger counter is shielded by aluminium sheets of
various thicknesses.
Al Thickness
(cm)
0.00162 0.00324 0.00486 0.00648 0.00810 0.00972
Count rate
(counts/min)
1 850 1 250 800 450 310 165

Determine the constants Ro and β for this case.