What is a torsion scale?
A torsion scale, or balance, is a measuring device making use of wire or fiber to measure small forces produced by gravity or electrical charge on low-mass objects. Practical torsion balances are used by pharmacies and other applications when tiny values — fractions of a gram — require measurement.
What is a torsion balance and how does it work?
The torsion balance consists essentially of a wire or thread attached at one end and arranged in such a way that a force applied at the other, or free, end tends to twist it out of shape. The force is measured by the extent to which the wire or thread is so twisted.
When was Coulomb’s torsion balance invented?
June 1785: Coulomb Measures the Electric Force. Charles Augustin Coulomb (top) used a calibrated torsion balance (bottom) to measure the force between electric charges.
What is sensitive torsion balance?
Torsion balance is a very very sensitive device used to measure very feeble forces. He also used it to discover the inverse square forces between magnetic poles. A torsion balance was used later by Cavendish to verify Newton’s Law of Gravitation.
What is the sensitivity requirement of a Class 3 torsion balance?
The Class III Balance has a sensitivity requirement of 6 mg, meaning that as much as 6 mg could be added to or removed from the pan before the balance marker will move 1 division. Most have a maximum capacity of 120 g and bear a statement to that effect.
Which is the best definition of torsion balance?
torsion balance. noun. 1 : an instrument used to measure minute forces (as electrostatic or magnetic attraction and repulsion) by the torsion of a wire or filament, the angle of torsion being proportional to the amount of force exerted. 2 : a spring balance in which the weight is balanced by the torsion of a wire — compare eötvös balance.
How does the torsion balance of a wire work?
Torsion balance. The torsion balance consists essentially of two small masses at different elevations that are supported at opposite ends of a beam. The latter is suspended from a wire that undergoes torsion because the masses are affected differently by the force of gravity. When the wire is twisted, an optical system indicates…
Who is the inventor of the torsion balance?
The amount of torque, in turn, is correlated with the gravitational force at the point of observation. The torsion balance was devised by Lóránt von Eötvös, a Hungarian physicist, in 1902; many scientists have contributed modifications to the basic instrument.
How does Coulomb use the torsion balance?
To use the torsion balance, Coulomb would hold an object near the metal sphere at the upper end of the metal rod. Any charge held by the object being studied would transfer to the metal sphere, then travel along the rod to the sphere at the other end.