Measuring instrument

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Captain Nemo and Professor Aronnax contemplating measuring instruments in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

A Love Meter at a Framingham, Massachusetts Rest Stop.

In physics and engineering, measurement is the activity of comparing physical quantities of real-world objects and events. Established standard objects and events are used as units, and the measurement results in a given number for the relationship between the item under study and the referenced unit of measurement. Measuring instruments are the means by which this translation is made. All measuring instruments are subject to varying degrees of instrument error.

Physicists use a vast range of instruments to perform their measurements. These range from simple objects such as rulers and stopwatches to electron microscopes and particle accelerators. Virtual instrumentation is widely used in the development of modern measuring instruments.

History of weights and measures

Timeline of time measurement technology

Length (i.e., distance)
*altimeter (measures height)
*architect's scale
*engineer's scale
*interferometer
*micrometer
*pi tape
*odometer
*opisometer
*ruler
*tape measure
*laser rangefinder
*ultrasound distance measure
*GPS
*Electronic distance meter

Pressure
*barometer
*manometer
*Pitot tube (used to determine speed)
*anemometer (used to determine wind speed)
*tire-pressure gauge

Flow

Sound

Electrical properties
*electrometer (measures charge)
*ammeter (measures electrical current)
*galvanometer (measures current)
*ohmmeter (measures resistance)
*voltmeter (measures voltage)
*Wheatstone bridge
*multimeter (measures all of the above)
*oscilloscope
*watt meter (measures power)
*electric energy meter (measures energy)

Hardness
*durometer

Uncategorized
*colorimeter (measures absorbance, and thus concentration)
*radiometry
*sicroscope
*spectroscopy is an important tool used by physicists.

Measuring instrument

See also