Re: Electronic balances was A weighty subject

[Bob Sciamanda <trebor@VELOCITY.NET>]

----- Original Message -----
From: brian whatcott <inet@INTELLISYS.NET>
To: <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 1999 11:30 PM
Subject: Re: Electronic balances was A weighty subject


> Michael Edmiston actually described a species of self calibrating
> electronic scale which measures force as always, but offers a better
> proxy for mass than the usual electronic scale by initializing to zero,
> and then applying a known weight which it will then autocalibrate to
> indicate as a particular mass.
> . . .
> brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>

I built my digital readout bathroom scale from a Heathkit (eons ago).  It
stresses a cantilevered metal beam and senses the strain with a bonded
strain gauge.  A  labeled calibration weight is included; there are two
potentiometer controls: zero and calibrate.

If I took (or built) this device on the moon and followed their
instructions to the letter, my moon weight would read the same as my earth
weight (its reads in lbs, with a read-out resolution of 0.1 lb)

Bob

Bob Sciamanda (W3NLV)
Physics, Edinboro Univ of PA (em)
trebor@velocity.net
http://www.velocity.net/~trebor