FAQsMeasurements of mass, force, pressure and density are some of the most commonly made in the UK. NPL ensures that these measurements can be made traceable to internationally agreed standards.
- Yes there are - some are listed here.
- The variation in the value of g across the earth's surface is about 0.5 % due to latitude, plus a change of approximately 0.003 % per 100 m altitude. Local topography and tidal forces also can have small effects.
- Equivalent force values are given here.
- The Système International d'unités - the SI system - is the coherent system of units adopted and recommended by the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM). It is based on seven base quantities: length, mass, time, electric current, thermodynamic temperature, amount of substance, and luminous intensity.
- There are many types of force transducer and they are used with instrumentation of varying complexity. In designing or specifying a force measurement system for an application, it is useful to understand the basic operation of the transducer to be used and also their broad operating characteristics.
- The International Prototype Kilogram is not perfectly stable (its mass changes with time), the amount it changes cannot be known perfectly (there is no 'perfect' reference against which to judge it) and the values of the national copies cannot be monitored at the highest level of accuracy without being compared directly with it.
- Up to a point yes, but unless a weight is of suitable design and material and in appropriate condition it will not be possible to give it a meaningful calibration and it would certainly be a waste of money.
- Give the weight a general inspection to check its construction, surface finish and the suitability of its magnetic properties.
- Yes, magnetic fields - and indeed magnetically permeable materials close to a balance - can effect a weighing result.
- Historically there have been a variety of units of mass and density, and approximate conversion factors to some of these are given below.
- Pressure balances operate over a pressure range extending from about 3 kPa to 1 GPa. Any one piston-cylinder can only be used over a pressure range that typically varies from about 10:1 up to about 100:1.
- Its definition is not precise but, as mentioned in the section above, it is commonly taken to mean pressures below, and often considerably below, atmospheric pressure.
- Values of atmospheric pressure in Teddington, measured at about 10 metres above sea level, going back to 1 January 1998 and shown both graphically and digitally, can be found on the historical pressure page of the NPL on-line barograph.
- To the best of our knowledge, the NPL on-line barograph is unique inasmuch as it provides a fully traceable pressure measurement, with a properly calculated uncertainty, and also allows historical data to be displayed both graphically and digitally.
- Many members of Pressmet (EMAN's Pressure Measurement Special Interest Group) can supply, calibrate or repair such apparatus.