The NIST-4 Kibble balance is an electromechanical machine that measures the mass of objects roughly 1 kg. Here, you can see the top of the balance, which includes a wheel that rotates back and forth as the two sides of the balance move. Just visible on the left side of the image are a set of thin electrical wires that connect the electromagnetic coil (not pictured) to other key parts of the balance. Incidentally, the reason the thin wires are coiled like springs instead of being pulled straight is so that as the wheel moves back and forth, the wires stretch without touching each other. Credit: Jennifer Lauren Lee/NIST
In a brightly lit subterranean lab at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) sits a room-sized electromechanical machine called the NIST-4 Kibble balance.The instrument can already measure the mass of objects of roughly 1 kilogram, about as heavy as a quart of milk, as accurately as any device in the world. But now, NIST researchers have further improved their Kibble balance’s performance by adding to it a custom-built device that provides an exact definition of electrical resistance.
PTB-News 2.2018 – Conventional calibration certificates could soon become history. To furnish proof that a measuring instrument has been calibrated and of how this has been done, metrology institutes throughout the world could, in the […]
by Suelí Fischer Beckert and Renan Ednan Flôres In the context of metrological confirmation, calibration is an essential process in all quality assurance efforts. Several organizations choose to outsource this activity to accredited laboratories in […]
Studio photographers may be familiar with the 1,000-watt quartz halogen lamps known as “FELs.” Scientists use them too—specially calibrated ones, at least—to test the performance of light sensors that monitor Earth’s weather, plant life and […]
