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Triple beam balance is an instrument used to measure mass very precisely. The device has reading error of +/- 0.05 gram. The name refers to the three beams including the middle beam which is the largest size, the front beam which is the medium size, and the far beam which is the smallest size. The difference in size of the beams indicate the difference in weights and reading scale that each beam carry. The reading scale can be enumerated that the middle beam reads in 100 gram increments, the front beam can read from 0 to 10 grams, and the far beam can read in 10 gram increments. The triple beam balance can be used to measure mass directly from the objects, find mass by difference for liquid, and measure out a substance.
Contents
Parts of triple beam balance
- The Base is the bottom part of triple beam balance. The use of base is for carrying the balance
- The Pan is where the specimen that is measuring is placed.
- The Scale pointer is the pointer that will indicate the equality in mass of the object on the pan and the mass on the beam.
- The Zero adjustment knob is used only when the triple beam balance is not zero at the beginning of the lab to adjust the scale pointer to align with zero.
- Beams are three bars which indicate 0 to 10 grams, 10 grams, and 100 gram increments.
- Riders are the sliding pointers used to indicate mass in grams of the mass on the pan. Before using triple beam balance, the scale pointer should be at zero.
Balance setup
- With the pan empty, move all the sliders to the leftmost position so they read 0.
- Make sure that the pan is clean.
- Make sure that the balance reads 0. The 500 adjustment knob can be used to adjust the scale pointer.
- Once the balance is calibrated, place the objects on the pan and adjust the riders. The hundred rider should be initially adjusted and follow by the tens rider. Adjust the ones rider until the scale pointer is at zero again.
Reading sliders
Read each of the sliders and add their weight together. Move the 100 gram slider to the right until the indicator drop below the fixed mark. Read the number of hundreds of grams. Move the 10 gram sliders to the right until the indicator drop below the fixed mark. Read the number of tens of gram. The mass of an object in the pan can be indicated by adding the numbers from the three beams.