Re: Electronic balances was A weighty subject

[Leigh Palmer <palmer@SFU.CA>]

> I have lost Edminston's original post, but I am thinking eg, of an
> ordinary double pan balance. This directly compares two weights and must
> be accompanied by a set of labeled "standard weights" in order to yield
> "absolute" results.  So both the balance and the set of labeled standards
> are carried to the moon - a built-in calibration.
>
> Whatever pairs of objects balanced on the earth will also balance on the
> moon.  You may want to change the labels on the "standard weights" when
> you get to the moon;  how to do this would involve comparing the weights
> of the same object on the earth and on the moon - but this is an entirely
> different kind of measurement - how would you do it?  You would have to
> resort to eg, a spring scale along with appropriate assumptions about its
> behavior on earth/moon.

Michael is being coy. His electronic balance really is a balance,
and it should be called an electromechanical balance. (As Michael
knows, my wife is a chemist who participates in another list. She
lets me in on such chemists' secrets.)

Leigh