The triple beam balance is a very accurate balance that determines the mass of an item. Its margin of error is only .05 grams, making it the go-to balance beam for a variety of purposes. It's relatively easy to use and, chances are, you have seen and even used one in school during a science class.
The name "triple beam balance" is pretty straightforward. It has three different beams (hence "triple beam") that you must slide riders along in order to find the mass of your object.
The first beam reads the mass from zero to 10 grams. The middle beam reads in 100 gram increments and the far beam reads in 10 gram increments. By using all three of the beams, you can find the mass of your object.
Remove anything from the silver pan and slide all your riders to the left. Set your object on the silver pan and move the 100 gram slider to the right one notch at a time until the indicator drops below the mark. One it drops, slide your middle rider to the notch one space to the left. Repeat this process for the 10 gram rider (back beam). To finish, move the front beam over gently and slowly. The bold numbers are grams and the smaller marks represent 10ths of a gram. Once the beam is balanced (it will look like its floating), add all three numbers together to get the total mass number.
Mass can sometimes be difficult to comprehend. Despite contrary belief, it is not the weight of an item. Instead, mass is defined by how much an object is pulled by a gravitational force. In other words, its how much matter exists in something. The more matter there is, the more something will weigh and the higher its mass will be.