Instruments that Measure Mass

Balances are utilized to measure the mass of matter. Typically, high school and middle schools will use triple beam balances for laboratory activities. Colleges will rely on digital balances. For larger quantities of materials, top-loading digital balances for employed. For higher sensitivity and accuracy, some chemists use analytical balances.

Figure 1.1 : Triple beam balance , Digital top-loading balance , and an analytical balance

In the academic laboratory (like Furman University's), a chemist will commonly use the gram, or the even smaller unit, of the milligram. Industrial chemists making larger quantities of material would work with kilograms of materials. Analytical chemists (industrial or academic), environmental scientists, and toxicologists are typically more concerned with the smaller units of the metric system. For example, many chemicals found in drinking water and air are regulated in concentrations like nanograms and or micrograms.