Learning a bit about scales

Posted by jennycooper on June 15th, 2016

Swamped with Google results in my search for a scale to weigh myself, I decided to read a bit about what a weighing scale really is. You know...when you stare at a word for too long, it sometimes seems to lose its meaning. I decided I need to take a break. After all, I just needed a bathroom scale to weigh myself. To clear my head out I started reading on Wikipedia about what a weighing scale is. I obviously never paid attention to this very common weighing instrument and my curiosity never extended beyond using a scale for dieting. It was high time I learned something useful. Turns out there is so much I did not know about. Scales come in so many sizes and shapes and are used for so many purposes! It is really incredible to find out these things so late in my life. But better late than never, right?

Turns out that what I was looking for is called a spring scale used to measure body weight. This brought back memories from school when I was learning about the gravitational force. I read that body weight is actually a force which is pushing down on the weighing scale. I remembered learning these basic long-forgotten things. The force is measured by balancing it against that of a spring (or in other words, against that of another object whose mass is already known). This is called a balance. Nothing complicated so far, but then I found out that there are mechanical scales (spring based, but also hydraulic or pneumatic ones), digital (the bathroom scale, the strain gauge scale as well as those used in the food industry and in retail and wholesale stores) and analytical scales (used in laboratories and research). So much information to digest! This has to do with engineering skills I thought to myself. And it does.

Scales have been around for a long time. They are historically referenced from 2400–1800 B.C. in the area which is now modern day Pakistan. They were used even before that too, but in more rudimentary shape and they are referenced to in Egypt as well, but all these were mechanical scales, balances. The more modern ones are part of electronic devices which calculate the weight and display it with the help of analytical or digital displays. They are truly state of the art, but not because of their displays necessarily. They come in all shapes and sizes and are used in industrial activities to perform either very fine measurements or weigh extremely heavy loads. Because they need to be extremely precise and there are so many possible sources of error in measurements, modern weighing scales are designed to include calibration adjustments. The aim is to compensate for the errors incurred by the reference mass, mechanical issues with the equipment and others such as buoyancy, friction, condensation, evaporation, air convection, gravitational differences, environmental vibrations and magnetic fields. These errors do not affect all types of equipment. As each weighing scale is different, so are the possible errors involved. In any case....the multitude of measuring possibilities is impressive.

Even the very simple weighing scale that I was initially interested in, can offer me a lot of details if it is a digital one. There are quite a few smart scales around and if I choose the right one (according to my budget of course!) I can find out not just my weight, but how much of my mass is actual muscle and how much is fat, in addition to finding out my water ratio and BMI. The readings can be used by various devices if integration is made available. With cloud storage data can be saved and used on the smartphone, tables, PC and other modern devices. These readings are incredibly useful for body builders and athletes who need to keep a close eye on their bodies' performance. There are people who spend hundreds of dollars for fitness tracking equipment at a professional level. To them, scales really do make a difference. I am now really impressed with scales and will consider my weighing scale with a lot more care before I purchase one.

Resource box: If you are also interested in scales, have a look at the many devices found on ScalesGalore. It is exactly what drove me to read more about my own simple purchase. However, if you need one for research and laboratory work, then make sure your weighing scale is good quality. Invest in your equipment.