PRECISION BALANCE: CHARACTERISTICS, TYPES, HISTORY - CHEMISTRY - 2025

The precision balance is an instrument used to measure the weight or calculate the exact mass, be it of a person, an object, an uncountable product or a substance.

The most common is that a precision scale is used to measure the weight of a person, mainly in medical centers, but nowadays anyone can own a precision scale at home.

Another use is one that is given in chemical laboratories to calculate the amount of substances that need to be used.

However, it could be said that the creation of precision balances arose out of a necessity and this is that concerning trade.

This is because people, at the beginning of business transactions, had to devise a strategy to be able to calculate the cost of those products that could not be valued per unit.

At first, the precision balance consisted of a movable bar, from which two saucers hung, the content to be measured was placed on one plate and the weights on the other.

However, as the years go by and the advancement of technology, different manual and electronic models of a precision balance can be found.

Origin of the precision balance

It is stipulated that the origin of the precision balance is located in approximately 3000 years before Christ, when the boom in commercial activities began.

In order to establish a cost for all those goods that cannot be counted per unit such as liquid products or grains, the Egyptians developed an instrument capable of facilitating this activity.

Over time, they were modifying it to improve its functionality, such as adding a base to the instrument to confirm that it is level and does not produce an alteration in weight.

However, the Egyptians were not the only ones who worked on the evolution of the precision balance. In the middle of 200 BC, the Romans also added their improvements to the precision balance.

In fact, the contribution of the Romans was considered a great advance in terms of resistance and is currently very useful due to the large amounts of weight it can support. This scale is known as the Roman one.

It would not be correct to attribute only to the Egyptians and the Romans what the precision balance is today, since other great minds also contributed to this evolution, such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Gilles de Roberval and Richard Salter.

There have been so many contributions to the modification of the precision balance that there are already manual and mechanical scales, and both analog and digital.

Types of precision balances

The precision balance is an instrument that can be needed at any time in life and there are many industries that depend on a balance to be able to classify the products that they are going to sell or buy.

In the past, there was only one type of precision balance, but with all the advances that have occurred over the years, you can even buy personal scales to have at home.

There are different types of precision balances, each one depending on its functionality. This variety of balances differs in its physical structure, in order to improve and make the weighing process easier. Some of them are:

Spring scale

The spring scale is a weighing instrument that has a hook at the top and bottom of the bar where the weight will be displayed. This balance resembles a pendulum.

The upper hook is the one that will be used to be hooked in a place that leaves space for the material to be weighed and that supports weight.

It is recommended that it be a resistant beam at a considerable height that allows you to see the weight that the heavy object will mark.

After fixing the upper hook, the product to be weighed will be hooked on the lower hook, which will be pulled down by gravity and thus the weight will be obtained.

Since this type of scale shows the weight generated by gravity, it does not matter in which position the scale is hung. When hooking the product on the lower hook, it will still be able to indicate the weight.

Weighing platform or Roman

The scale known as a weighing platform or in some cases Roman depending on its size, is a type of scale commonly used in supermarkets, since its platform surface allows us to weigh any type of product that can be purchased in a supermarket and that must be heavy.

One of the best features of this scale is the amount of weight it can support. The larger its size, the greater the weight it can carry.

There are weighing platforms as large as to measure the weight of a loaded cattle or truck. These are normally called Roman.

Analytical balance

The analytical balance is a type of scale used in chemical laboratories to measure small masses. The measuring bars are enclosed in a transparent box to prevent them from getting dusty.

The way to use this balance differs from the others since the sample must be at room temperature so that the measurement is not altered.

Instead of directly measuring mass, this type of scale measures the force needed to counteract the mass being measured.

Counter scale

This type of balance is similar to the weighing platform. It is named after the counter scale because of its location in the establishment.

They are usually found at airports and post offices to weigh luggage or parcels.

Medical scale

This instrument is characterized by having a platform on which the patient must stand to know their weight.

This scale is designed with a bar that protrudes several from the platform to also measure the height of the patient.

References

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