Balancing act

[ffutures]

Back when I started as a technician a 300g balance with 2 decimal place accuracy was about the price of a small car; currently they're around the price of a TV set and rapidly falling. So the [expletive deleted] examiners decided that they wanted students to start using 3 place accuracy if possible, and marking accordingly. And they're still expensive, about a thousand quid for a good one.

But I've just managed to persuade a VERY reputable balance manufacturer to sell us a 300g balance with three decimal place accuracy for £295, about a third of the usual price. It's reconditioned but fully guaranteed, and ought to be ideal for our needs. I am, in consequence, feeling VERY smug...

Comments

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I assume this is for a centrifuge?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

No, just for general AL chemistry experiments. God alone knows why the examiners think we need this degree of accuracy at this level, but they're apparently asking schools to make it available and marking accordingly.

[robertprior.livejournal.com]

We've got one centigram balance, the rest are decigram. Have to keep it locked up -- they are a hot item for the kids to steal. High resale value, apparently to students who set up their own labs.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Tell me about it. Drug labs are apparently the big black-market customers for stolen balances, so most of the really expensive ones have an anti-theft anchor point these days, like a laptop but stronger. Some manufacturers even build in security systems; on some you have to type in a code when you plug it in or it won't work, on others breaking the security cable locks up the security device, you have to have it repaired and reset before it'll work again.

We had one of our .01g balances disappear a couple of years ago, thought it had been stolen and called in the police etc. Fortunately we didn't make an insurance claim (we had no proof of a break-in, which was required by our policy), because about six months later it turned up in the cupboard of a kitchen used by the 6th form students; apparently someone was cooking something and "borrowed" the first balance they could find to weigh some ingredients, never bought it back.

Balances in Schools

[uk-lemming.livejournal.com]

We had three at the school I was doing my A2's at, down to an accuracy of 0.02g for all the people doing Chemistry, Biology and Physics, (oh the memory's of physics experiments going wrong...) all where 20 years old or more, and a pain to use.