LMD Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 Is this necessary? Do other scales not do the same things? Sorry, I'm not a sciency person so I'm trying to get my head around what this does without having access to one! We're doing bfsu vol 2 and it's listed in the A stream as part of measuring density/volume. My oldest is in 6th, we have many years of middle/high school science ahead, will I use it again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 We're just at 6th grade here too, but we completed that book without a triple beam balance, because I couldn't find one I could afford. I don't remember which lessons specifically call for it, but I did get a cheap jeweller's scale that i still use every day to measure coffee! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrulySusan Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 No, you don't need it. Get a nice digital scale that measures in grams and it will serve you better. We got ours from Home Science Tools for around $50. You can use your digital scale for high school sciences as well. On their website, they used to have a buying guide with what features to look for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ms.Ivy Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 We finished the A thread in vol. 2 with just a cheap digital scale that measures grams. It worked out fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clemsondana Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 Triple beam balance use is a required skill in my state, so I teach it as part of biology at the co-op. It was also required at the community college where I taught. I'd have my student watch a youtube video about it so that the know how it works, and then buy a cheaper digital scale. They work the same was as a doctor's scale, except for the maximum that they can measure, so your doctor might let you do it the next time somebody has an appointment. The important idea is to start with the heaviest increment it can measure (usually 100lbs in a dr office, 100g on a lab scale) and seat it into a groove on the balance bar. Then do the next lowest, etc, untiil you get an accurate measurement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 My kids have never used a triple-balance scale (except at the Y or the doctor's office.) My oldest graduated college as a biology major and never used one in all of his science classes. They used a scientific digital scale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMD Posted September 5, 2016 Author Share Posted September 5, 2016 Wow, thanks for your replies! I thought they did something extra for some reason... We have a million good digital scales as dh uses them for work (baking), y'all just saved me a few hundred dollars, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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