At first sight, a scale may look like a quite simple equipment: one just needs to place an object on the plate and, as by magic, the weight appears on the screen. But, in reality, the weighing instruments are much more complex: they hide pieces we can’t see and they can be influenced by external factors, them too almost invisible to the eyes of someone who doesn’t work in the business.
It’s not by chance that instructions manuals of most scales bring a series of recommendations about the place and the way you should install the equipment. Afterall, contrary to what you might think, it’s not just the load that counts on the time to weigh. Scales are objects sensitive to several factors that, one way or another, may end up interfering on their performance.
One of them is gravity.
That is, the force that makes objects fall to the ground. But this force is not quite the same in all the places. Gravity varies according to the distance to the centre of the Earth, being possible for it to change with altitude and latitude of your location.
So, this is one of the variables that may be overlooked, even though it affects the results presented on a scale.
But temperature is also on the list.
Sudden changes to this level may even cause weighing errors. Although load cells of most scale are ready to mitigate the effects of this kind of occurrences, it’s possible that a great variation triggers changes on the component’ sensitivity.
Which means you should try to use your scale away from heat and/or cold sources and in a stable room temperature. Because this is, definitely, one of those factors you should keep your eyes on, when you want to do precise weighing.
And vibrations are another factor you shouldn’t overlook.
Fridges, ventilation systems and other devices produce vibratory waves that may affect the performance of a load cell – especially if we are talking about an analytical scale. Vibrations reach this sensitive component and may cause changes on the weighing final results.
As such, this is another factor that may destabilize your equipment’s performance – so keep it away from vibration sources.
To discover more little facts on weighing, such as these, keep following us here on the blog! And, if you need a scale, trust the expertise and knowledge of Balanças Marques and visit our website.
Photo credits: Inforvis
