The mass of a body is usually measured by comparing it with the standard masses. So in this article, I will discuss the instrument for measuring mass and the one for measuring weight.
mass
Mass is defined as the quantity of matter in a body. The mass of a body is measured with a balance of which there are various types – a beam or chemical balance or a lever balance.
To measure with a beam balance, the object is placed on the left-hand scale pan and standard masses are placed on the right-hand scale pan. The working of the beam balance is based on the principle of moments’ and its reading accuracy could be up to 0.001 grams.
Read: Temperature measurement
weight
The weight of an object is measured using a spring balance. The balance is calibrated using Hooke’s law. The balance, therefore, has a uniform scale and measures the weight directly.
The object whose weight is required is suspended from the hook of the spring balance. The weight causes the spring to stretch moving the pointer which directly indicates the weight on the graduated scale.
