List of measuring instruments
In the physical sciences and engineering, measurement is the activity of obtaining and comparing physical quantities of real-world objects and events. Established standard objects and events are used as units, and the measurement results in a given number for the relationship between the item under study and the referenced unit of measurement. Measuring instruments and formal test methods are the means by which this translation is made. All measuring instruments are subject to varying degrees of instrument error and measurement uncertainty.
Physicists use a vast range of instruments to perform their measurements. These range from simple objects such as rulers and stopwatches to electron microscopes and particle accelerators. Virtual instrumentation is widely used in the development of modern measuring instruments.
hay naku kinokontrol kasi
- Transit telescope
- Calendar (by counting days)
- Sundial
- Hourglass
- Egg timer
- Water clock
- Pendulum clock
- Chronometer, *Chronograph
- Clock
- Radio clock
- Atomic clock
- Radiometric dating
hay naku kinokontrol kasi
Length (i.e., distance)
- Altimeter, height
- Architect's scale
- Caliper
- Engineer's scale
- Gauge blocks
- Interferometer
- Micrometer
- Odometer
- Opisometer
- Rule
- Surveyor's wheel
- Tachymeter
- Tape measure
- Taximeter, measure usually includes a time component as well
- Electronic distance meter
- Ultrasound distance measure, indirect by runtime measurement of sound waves (sonar, Echo sounding)
- Laser rangefinder, indirect by runtime measurement of coherent electromagnetic waves around the visible light region (lidar)
- Radar antenna, indirect by runtime measurement of electromagnetic waves around the microwave region (radar)
- GPS, indirect by runtime measurement of electromagnetic waves in the GHz-range
see also Distance measuring equipment
- Graduated cylinder (liquids)
- Pipette (liquids)
- Measuring cup (liquids, grained solids)
- Flow measurement devices(liquids)
- pneumatic trough (gases)
- overflow trough (solids)
- bouyant weight (solids)
(if the mass density of a solid is known, weighing allows to calculate the volume)
- Speedometer
- Tachometer (speed of rotation)
- Tachymeter
- Airspeed indicator
- Variometer
- Radar gun, a Doppler radar device, using the Doppler effect for indirect measurement of velocity.
Pressure (current density of linear momentum)
Current density is also called flux.
- Barometer used to measure the atmospheric pressure.
- Manometer see pressure measurement
- Pitot tube (used to determine speed)
- Anemometer (used to determine wind speed)
- Tire-pressure gauge in industry and mobility
- Cross staff
- Quadrant
- Reflecting instruments
- Repeating circles
- Protractor
- Theodolite
- Graphometer
- Circumferentor
angular velocity or rotations per time unit
electric current (current of charge)
- Ammeter (part of a multimeter)
- Galvanometer
- Clamp meter
voltage (electric potential difference)
- Voltmeter (part of a multimeter)
- Oscilloscope allows to quantify time depended voltages
- Ohmmeter (part of a multimeter, LCR meter)
- Wheatstone bridge
- Time-domain reflectometer characterizes and locates faults in metallic cables by runtime measurements of electric signals.
- Capacitance meter (part of a LCR meter)
- Inductance meter (part of a LCR meter)
Energy carried by Electricity
Power carried by Electricity (current of energy)
- These are instruments used for measuring electrical properties. Also see meter (electronics).
Electric Field (negative gradient of electric potential)
- Thermometer
- Resistance thermometer principle: relation between temperature and electrical resistance of metals (platinum) (Electrical resistance), range: 10 kelvins to 1000 kelvins, application in physics and industry
- Thermistors principle: relation between temperature and electrical resistance of ceramics or polymers, range: from about 0.01 kelvin to 2,000 kelvins (-273.14°C to 1,700°C)
| unit | overall range | approximate precision |
|---|---|---|
| kelvin | 0.01-2,000 | row 1, cell 3 |
| celsius | -273.14-1,700 | row 2, cell 3 |
- Thermocouples principle: relation between temperature and voltage of metal junctions (Seebeck effect), range: from about −200 °C to +1350 °C
- Pyrometers principle: temperature dependence of spectral intensity of light (Planck's law), range: from about -50°C to +4000°C, note: measurement of thermal radiation (instead of thermal conduction, or thermal convection) means no physical contact necessary in temperature measurement (pyrometry). note: thermal space resolution found in Thermography
- Electromagnetic spectroscopy
- Pyranometer principle: solar radiation flux density relates to surface temperature (Stefan–Boltzmann law)
This includes Thermal capacitance or temperature coefficient of energy, reaction energy, heat flow ... Calorimeters are called passive if gauged to measure emerging heat, for example from chemical reactions. Calorimeters are called active or heated if they heat the sample, or reformulated: if they are gauged to fill the sample with a defined amount of heat.
- constant-temperature calorimeter, phase change calorimeter for example an ice calorimeter or any other calorimeter observing a phase change.
- constant-volume calorimeter, bomb calorimeter
- constant-pressure calorimeter, enthalpy-meter
- Differential Scanning Calorimeter
- Reaction calorimeter
- Actinometer (
- see Calorimeter or Calorimetry
Entropy transfer
Phase change calorimeter's energy value divided by absolute temperature give the entropy exchanged. Phase changes produce no entropy and therefore offer themselves as an entropy measurement concept. Thus entropy values occur indirectly by processing energy measurements at defined temperatures, without producing entropy.
- constant-temperature calorimeter, phase change calorimeter
The given sample is cooled down to (almost) absolute zero (for example by submerging the sample in liquid helium). At absolute zero temperature any sample is assumed to contain no entropy (see Third law of thermodynamics for further information). Then the following two calorimeter types are used to fill the sample with entropy until the desired temperature has been reached: (see also Thermodynamic databases for pure substances)
- constant-pressure calorimeter, enthalpy-meter
- constant-temperature calorimeter, phase change calorimeter
Concerning a given sample, a proportionality factor relating temperature change and energy carried by heat. If the sample is a gas, then this coefficient depends significantly on being measured at constant volume or at constant pressure. (The terminiology preference in the heading indicates that the classical use of heat bars it from having substance-like properties.)
- constant-volume calorimeter, bomb calorimeter
- constant-pressure calorimeter, enthalpy-meter
specific temperature coefficient of energy ("Specific heat")
The temperature coefficient of energy divided by a substance-like quantity (amount of substance, mass, volume) describing the sample. Usually calculated from measurements by a division or could be measured directly using a unit amount of that sample.
More on Condensed Matter, Gas
- usually determined indirectly by measuring volume, mass, molar concentration or "knowing particle number"
Plasticity of a solid
Tensile strength, Ductility or Malleability of a solid
Hardness of a solid
Shape and surface of a solid
- Holographic interferometer
- Laser produced speckle pattern analysed.
Granularity of a solid or a suspension
Optical activity of a solid
Substance Flow measurement
Substance potential or Chemical potential or molar Gibbs energy
The substance potential of a redox reaction is usually determined electrochemically using reversible cells.
- gas detector
- oxygen sensor (= lambda sond)
- CO2 sensor
- Ultracentrifuge, separates mixtures of substances. In a force field of a centrifuge, substances of different densities separate.
- Refractometer, indirectly by determining the refractive index of a substance.
- mass spectrometer identifies the chemical composition of a sample on the basis of the mass-to-charge ratio of charged particles.
- chromatographic device separates mixtures of substances. Different velocites of the substance types accomplish the separation.
- Nephelometer or turbidimeter
pH: Concentration of Protons in a Solution
- Hygrometer measures the Density of water in air
- Lysimeter measures the balance of water in soil
- Tensiometer measures the content of water in soil
Sound, compression waves in matter
- microphone or hydrophone properly gauged
- Spectrometer
- Interferometer used in the wide field of Interferometry
- Antenna (radio)
- Radio telescope
- EMF meter
- T-ray detectors
- Microwave power meter
- bolometer measuring the energy of incident electromagnetic radiation.
- Thermographic camera
- Phototube
- Photographic plate
- camera
- Photomultiplier
(for lux meter see the section about human senses and human body)
Pressure (current density of linear momentum)
The measure of the total power of light emitted.
Radiation with a rest mass, Particle radiation
- Crookes tube, *Cathode ray tube, a phosphor coated anode
Ionizing Radiation
Ionizing radiation includes rays of "particles" as well as rays of "waves". Especially X-rays and Gamma rays transfer enough energy in non-thermal, (single) collision processes to separate electron(s) from an atom.
particle current
- Photostimulable phosphors
- Microchannel plate detector
- Geiger counter
- Scintillation counter,Lucas cell
- Cloud chamber
- Bubble chamber
- Semiconductor detector
- Photographic plate
- Dosimeter, a technical device realizes different working principles.
- Body fat meter
- Medical thermometer
- Sphygmomanometer, a blood pressure meter used to determine blood pressure in medicine. See also Category:Blood tests
- Spirometer
- Headphone, loudspeaker, sound-pressure gauged, for measuring an equal-loudness contour of a human ear.
concentration or partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the respiratory gases
A measure of the perceived power of light, luminous flux is adjusted to reflect the varying sensitivity of the human eye to different wavelengths of light.
See also: Category:Physiological instruments
See also Category:Meteorological instrumentation and equipment.
See also Category:Navigational equipment.
Uncategorized, Specialized application
- Colorimeter (measures absorbance, and thus concentration)
- Radiometry
- SWR meter check the quality of the match between the antenna and the transmission line.
- S meter measures the signal strength processed by a communications receiver.
- Time-domain reflectometer locates faults in metallic cables
- Microscope
- Telescope
- Spectroscope is an important tool used by physicists.
- Densitometer measures light transmission through processed photographic film or transparent material or light reflection from a reflective material.
- Force platform measures ground reaction force
- Postage meter measures postage used from a prepaid account.
- Parking meter measures time a vehicle is parked at a particular spot, usually with a fee.
- Smoke detector
- Raman spectroscopy
- Infrared spectroscopy
- Tomograph, device and method for non-destructive analysis of multiple measurements done on a geometric object, for producing 2- or 3-dimensional images, representing the inner structure of that geometric object.
Notes
Note that the alternate spelling "-metre" is never used when referring to a measuring device.
See also
- List of measuring devices for a more comprehensive, alphabetical list of devices and the corresponding list of physical quantities.
- Detectors
- History of weights and measures
- Timeline of temperature and pressure measurement technology
- Category:Medical testing equipment lists specialized measuring instruments