A laboratory balance is a piece of important equipment to measure the mass of an object or a substance, be it solid, liquid or tissue. In order to ensure that you get accurate and precise readings, it is necessary that you buy the right kind of laboratory balances.
Here are some tips to bear in mind before buying laboratory balances.
1.Know the Type of Balances
There are various types of weighing balances. You need to understand which one is the most suitable for your purpose – whether educational, industrial, manufacturing, medical, fitness, food testing, pharmaceutical, product research and development or veterinary. This is because balances and their use in the chemistry laboratory vary hugely. The types of weighing units such as g, kg, mg, oz and lb also determine the purchase you want to make.
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- Analytical: These are highly sensitive balances when you need a highly accurate mass measurement. With a readability range between 0.1 mg to 0.01 mg, they can detect even minor increments. They need to be kept in a place with minimum disturbances. There is no doubt about analytical balance accuracy when it comes to measurements.
- Precision: When you need to measure quantities up to the exact number, precision balances are very useful. They are available in the capacity of several hundred grams up to kilograms and can measure up to one milligram.
- Microbalance: These balances are designed to make accurate measurements of small weighing objects. They can read up to a million parts of a gram. When you want to measure an object that is so light that they don’t show any weight on ordinary kitchen or postal scales, microbalances come quite handy.
These types can be further categorized into electronic balance machine and digital weighing machine.
2.Know the Specimens You Want to Measure
Do you want to measure light or heavy objects or both? You may buy any one or all of the balances, depending on the types of objects you want to measure in the laboratory.
3.Know the Level of Precision You Want
The level of precision you want, whether 0.05, 0.00005 and any other will also be a governing factor for purchasing the laboratory balances.
4.Know the Size of the Laboratory Balance
You may want to weigh something as small as apple and something as big as a heavy rock. The size of the pan of the laboratory balance should be able to accommodate the object you want to weigh.
5.Other Factors to Consider
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- Quality of the laboratory balance
- The reputation of the buyer
- Ease of maintenance
- Product and service guarantee
Once you have taken care of these factors, you can rest assured of buying the right kind of laboratory balance.
Also read: List of Science Equipments’s a Laboratory Must Have
