"How much does it weigh?" seems a simple question. To scientists and engineers, however, the answer is far from simple, and determining the answer demands consideration of an almost overwhelming number of factors. With an intriguing blend of history, fundamentals, and technical details, the Handbook of Mass Measurement sets forth the details

Frank E. Jones is currently an independent consultant. He received a bachelor's degree in physics from Waynesburg College, Pennsylvania, and a master's degree in physics from the University of Maryland, where he has also pursued doctoral studies in meteorology. He served as a physicist at the National Bureau of Standards (now National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST) in many areas, including pressure measurements, flow measurements, standardizing for chemical warfare agents, chemical engineering, processing of nuclear materials, nuclear safeguards, evaporation of water, humidity sensing, evapotranspiration, cloud physics, helicopter lift margin, moisture in materials, gas viscosity, air density, density of water, refractivity of air, earthquake research, mass, length, time, volume, and sound.

Randall M. Schoonover was an employee of the National Bureau of Standards (currently National Institute of Standards and Technology) for more than 30 years and was closely associated with mass and density metrology. Since his retirement in 1995 he has continued to work as a consultant and to publish scientific work. He attended many schools and has a diploma for electronics from Devry. During his career he authored and co-authored more than 50 scientific papers. His most notable work was the development, along with his colleague Horace A. Bowman, of the silicon density standard as part of the determination of Avogadro's constant; the silicon density standard is now in use throughout the world. He has several inventions and patents to his credit, among them are the immersed electronic density balance and a unique high-precision load cell mass comparator.

Mass and Mass Standards. Recalibration of Mass Standards. Contamination of Mass Standards. Cleaning of Mass Standards. From Balance Observations to Mass Differences. Measurement Uncertainty. Weighing Designs. Calibration of the Screen and the Built-In Weights of a Direct-Reading Analytical Balance. A Look at the Electronic Balance. Buoyancy Corrections in Weighing. Air Density Equation. Density of Solid Objects. Calculation of the Density of Water. Conventional Mass; Concept, Intent, Benefits, and Limitations. A Comparison of Error Propagations for Mass and Conventional Mass. Examination of Parameters that can Cause Error in Mass Determinations. Determination of the Mass of a Piston-Gage Weight, Practical Uncertainty Limits. Response of Apparent Mass to Thermal Gradients and Free Convective Currents. Magnetic Errors in Mass Metrology. Effect of Gravitational Configuration of Weights on Precision of Mass Measurements. Between-Time Component of Error in Mass Measurements. Laboratory Standard Operating Procedures. Control Charts. Tolerance Testing of Mass Standards. Surveillance Testing. The Mass Unit Disseminated to Surrogate Laboratories Using the NIST Portable Mass Calibration Package. Highly Accurate Direct Mass Measurements without the Use of External Standards. The Piggyback Balance Experiment; An Illustration of Archimedes' Principle and Newton's Third Law. The Application of the Electronic Balance in High Precision Pycnometry. Appendices.