An electronic balance in a teaching laboratory is unfamiliar: nothing is known about…

PHYSICS · Subjective · Fermi University Physics · Scientific Practice & Experimental Methods · Quantities, units and the practice of measurement · Designing and running experiments

Measurement and Method, Ch The instrument: resolution, sensitivity, calibration and traceability

Problem

An electronic balance in a teaching laboratory is unfamiliar: nothing is known about whether its reading drifts with time, shows hysteresis when loaded from different directions, both, or neither. It reads to a resolution of

0.01\,\mathrm{g}

and its maximum capacity is

200\,\mathrm{g}

. A set of calibrated masses of

10\,\mathrm{g}

50\,\mathrm{g}

and

100\,\mathrm{g}

is available. The whole test must fit inside ten minutes. (a) Describe a protocol, stating what is placed on the pan and when, that would let drift and hysteresis be told apart inside the ten minutes. (b) State how the pattern of readings would show drift alone, hysteresis alone, both together, or neither.

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