When we think of industrial scales, we often think of large platform scales with very high capacities that weigh large masses of ingredients and products in the industrial process. However, oftentimes, it just is as important to weigh the tiniest components that may weigh much less than a pound, and it is necessary to have electronic scales that can carry out these measurements. It is impractical to use a scale with a capacity of 1000 pounds and a resolution of 0.2 pounds when weighing a small metal fastener that only weighs 0.2 pounds. Small digital bench scales with a capacity of 3 pounds or less and a resolution of .0001 pounds or better are much more useful at many stages of the electronics industry, the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, and even the jewelry industry.
Many people may have gold jewelry sitting around their house. This jewelry may have been received as a present or even passed down through a family for several generations. It is important to get the jewelry appraised for several reasons. The owner may wish to sell it, and an official appraisal will help determine a reasonable asking price. Even if the owner does not with to sell his or her jewelry, for insurance reasons, it is necessary to know the price value of the piece of jewelry. There are several steps that are taken to determine the price of gold jewelry. Simply looking at old receipts or learning the history of the piece of jewelry may give hints as to its worth. It is most important to determine the karat level of the gold. Most gold is alloyed with other materials, but a buyer will usually only pay for the gold content. 10 karat gold is 41% gold, 14kt is 58.3% gold, and 18kt is 75% gold. Usually, unless it is alloyed with platinum, the heavier a piece of gold jewelry, the higher the karat and the more it is worth. Jewelers use digital bench scales to measure precious metals in troy ounces or to measure the jewelry in pennyweight or grams. To make things even more complicated, diamonds are weighed in carats, which are equal to 1/142nd of an ounce or 1/5th of a gram, and points, which are equal to 1/100th of a carat. Some electronic scale manufacturers, like Arlyn Scales, can customize their digital interfaces to allow the user to choose which unit of measurement should be used to display the weight of a piece of jewelry or precious stone. Click here to learn more about diamond weight scales.
In the pharmaceutical industry, it is imperative that many different chemicals and compounds be weighed out in very precise proportions. In many cases, a pharmacist may be required to measure out very small doses for use in a single pill. Drugs may have very different effects if the dosage is changed by even a milligram, and therefore, for the safety of the patients and for the success of the pharmacist, it is necessary to use a very accurate digital scale. A low capacity electronic scale may be used during drug development. In early stages of pharmaceutical clinical trials, a drug may be administered in a variety of doses to different patients. A pharmacist may have to carefully and precisely measure out each dosage when producing the medication. Once a drug has been approved for marketing and goes into full-scale production, low-capacity digital scales can be used for check weighing to ensure that each pill falls within a range of weights. This ensures that the correct, safe dosage has been added to each pill.
In the jewelry and the pharmaceutical industry, even the slightest difference in weight can have a major effect. One piece of gold may be worth more than another even due to the slightest weight difference and a drug may have an adverse effect if there is even the smallest increase in dosage. Surface Acoustic Wave technology has been developed by Arlyn Scales for ultra-precision weighing. While conventional digital scales have a resolution of 1 part in 5000, electronic SAW scales have a resolution of 1 part in 100000. Rather than being able to only measure weights to the gram, SAW technology allows the user to measure accurately to the milligram and beyond. For a jeweler who wants to make sure that they are getting the right diamond for his or her money, this makes a world of difference.
