Digital Scales

NASA Helps Students Understand “Weight” and “Mass”

There is a class of scientific concepts that are difficult to grasp not because they are far removed from our observations, but because they are part of our ordinary existence. One example is the concept of “work,” which means something quite different to a physicist and a bricklayer. Another example is the concept of weight Read More

Richard Gaughan February 6th, 2012

How to Calibrate Digital Hanging Scales and Crane Scales

How to calibrate and maintain digital hanging scales. Read More

Rachel Kohn February 4th, 2012

Calibrating Your Platform Scale the Right Way

Whenever you’re talking anything to do with weights and measures, you’ve got to check out the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Within the United States, they are the ultimate authority on measurement -related issues. So when they put out guidance on how to validate the performance of platform scales, it’s a good idea to Read More

Richard Gaughan January 11th, 2012

Video Introduces Students to the Precision Scale

Precision scales are easy to use, but who can’t use a little refresher in proper lab practices and measurement techniques? This brief video introduces beginning chemistry students to proper weighing practices. First make sure your top-loading balance is clean is the first piece of advice the video offers. The video also briefly introduces the use Read More

Richard Gaughan January 9th, 2012

Platform Scale Measurements Help Monitor Fish Catch

The world’s fisheries are under pressure from harvesting operations. To make sure there’ll be enough for generations ahead, the National Marine Fisheries Service sets quotas and monitors catch. The catch is monitored on each boat with flow scales, which weigh without interrupting the processing. The system works fine, except in unusual cases, such as for Read More

Richard Gaughan January 6th, 2012

Boiling Acid With Your Wine?

When you sit down to test out a new red wine, chances are you don’t dump it in boiling sulfuric acid—unless, that is, you’re trying to determine the protein content of the wine. If that’s what you’re doing, you’ll be following the Official Method for measuring Protein in Flavored Wine. The sulfuric acid converts the Read More

Richard Gaughan January 6th, 2012

Measuring Meat: Protein Combustion Isolates the Nitrogen

The Food Safety and Inspection Service of the USDA is responsible for a variety of test and monitoring procedures on the food supply. One of those responsibilities is determining the protein content of fresh and processed meat and poultry. Conceptually, the process is simple: isolate the nitrogen from a sample and quantify it. Because nitrogen Read More

Richard Gaughan January 5th, 2012

Testify to Measurement Accuracy: An Analytical Balance Comes in Handy

Not too many of us have to go to court to defend our laboratory measurements. If you’re working in a crime lab, though, that’s just where you might end up. Can you imagine needing to defend your reagent preparation technique to a jury—a jury full of non-scientists? That’s one reason why the state of North Read More

Richard Gaughan January 4th, 2012

How to Monitor Your Crab Catch

You catch your crab, you load them into your hold, then you dock at a registered crab receiver and you wonder, “what do I do now?” Lucky for you, you can refer to the National Marine Fisheries Service template for crab monitoring and figure out exactly what to do. You’ll know to separate crab by Read More

Richard Gaughan January 4th, 2012

Apple Heritage Cryogenically Preserved

Johnny Appleseed would approve of the USDA’s work. Some scientists with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service are engaged in the preservation of genetic diversity. For example, one group is preserving the Malus variety of apple. They collect buds from the trees and trim them. The buds are then weighed on an analytical balance, dried and Read More