A WEIGHING DEVICE FOR USE ON A SHIP

Marine research is becoming increasingly important. Weighing of substances is, of course, one of the most common needs for experimental scientific work. Balances of normal design for the use on the mainland depend on the constancy of the acceleration due to gravity, but the movements of a ship will generally produce varying accelerations. In the approach presented here two balances are used: one carries a fixed load and measures the momentary acting accelerations, the other has the unknown mass that is to be determined. The experimental set-up, the computer program and possible error sources are described. The total accuracy of the experimental set-up, as tested with cruises on a ship, was found to be similar to the accuracy of the balance on the mainland.