QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by LARSSON, S. Articles by LVTRUP, S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by LARSSON, S. Articles by LVTRUP, S.

Journal of Experimental Biology 44,47-58 (1966)
Published by Company of Biologists 1966

An Automatic Diver Balance

SUNE LARSSON ¹ and SREN LVTRUP ¹

¹ Department of Histology, University of Göteborg, Sweden

1. An automatic, electromagnetic diver balance is described.

2. The working principle of this instrument is that a small plastic cylinder, the diver, with density less than one is kept floating in an aqueous medium by a magnetic force acting on a permanent magnet enclosed in the diver. In the floating position the diver cuts off a light beam which, through an electronic system, controls the magnetic force acting upon the diver. The latter will move down until its buoyancy is compensated by this force.

3. With this balance one may register the submerged--or reduced--weight of any object placed on the floating diver.

4. The apparatus has hitherto found application in water-permeation studies (D₂O-H₂O exchange) and in determinations of the cortical tension in the frog's egg. Potentially the instrument may be used for various other purposes, notably for manometric determinations.