NIST ELECTROSTATIC FORCE BALANCE EXPERIMENT
Abstract
We have designed and built a prototype electrostatic force balance for realizing forces in the micronewton range. The active electrodes are concentric cylinders, the outer serving as the reference and the inner suspended and guided by a rectilinear flexure mechanism. The geometry has been designed such that a near-linear capacitance gradient of 1 pF/mm is achieved at a working overlap of 5 mm. We have used this balance in a null-displacement mode to compare an electric realization of force with the force generated by calibrated deadweights of nominal mass 1 mg, 10 mg, and 20 mg. The preliminary measurements reported here agree to within a few parts in 10<sup>4</sup> after including all known correction factors.
Event details
- Event
- Joint International Conference on Force, Mass, Torque, Hardness and Civil Engineering Metrology in the age of globalization
- Technical Committee
- TC3
- Place
- Celle, GERMANY
- Time
- 24 September 2002 - 26 September 2002