A high precision balance is a laboratory scale designed to accurately measure small sample masses with a great deal of accuracy. They are ideal for scientific research, analytical chemistry applications and quality control testing environments. They typically have higher capacity than smaller analytical balances and their reading is often displayed to a greater number of decimal places.

They are less sensitive to environmental factors such as temperature, air turbulence and vibrations. Because of this, they can be used in a wider range of settings than an analytical balance. However, these weighing devices still require proper care and maintenance to ensure peak performance and optimum sensitivity. This includes avoiding overloading, keeping the weighing area clean and regularly calibrating the balance. Calibration is essential as failure to do so may lead to inaccurate measurements.

Whether they are performing simple formulation or more complex density determination tasks, laboratories need to know the consistency and reliability of their weighing results. One way to achieve this is by distributing the same samples to multiple laboratories and comparing their measurement results. Another is by creating a control chart to monitor the accuracy and repeatability of a single balance over time.

Analytical and precision balances offer a wide variety of features for the measurement of small sample masses, including formulation (AKA recipe calculation) and density determination. They can also be equipped with a database formula function which allows users to store and add ingredients and calculate their total weight value. This is a useful feature for recipes that need to be repeated. high precision balance