A NOVEL WEIGHING PROCEDURE EUGENE W. BLANK Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Co., Jersey City, New Jersey
IN QUANTITATIVE analytical procedures it is frequently desirable to weigh an exact amount of material into a covered crucible. The usual analytical balance pan is too small to hold both crucible and lid readily. Moreover, weighing a powder into a vertical crucible is at best an awkward task, particularly when it is necessary to remove an excess of powder by means of the weighing spatula. By placing the lid of the crucible on the balance pan in the position shown in the diagram it will be found that the crucible itself can be balanced on the lid in an almost horizontal OF CRUCIBLE UP- nosition. The lid is turned on the ON FACIL1~ pan so that the open end of the cruTATE WEIGHING cible faces the operator. This simple trick, of which the-writer finds no mention in a search of numerous quantitative manuals, simplifies a very awkward operation since a spatula can be inserted readily into the crucible to remove material if too much has been added and a t the same time the lid and crucible are weighed together, without crowding and at the center of the balance pan. Loss of material, due to dusting, is reduced to a minimum since the spatula can be so inserted into the crucible as to deposit the material being weighed directly on the bottom.
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