torsion balance
- noun
- /ˈtɔrʃən ˈbælənʃ/
- Specialized
:
balanza de torsión
- The torsion balance helped researchers understand gravitational interactions between small masses.
Examples
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Like most of the frontier measurements of G in recent decades, the PTB experiment used a modern variant of the torsion-balance design that goes back two centuries to the celebrated measurement by Henry Cavendish.
Academic text (2002) -
To observe minute changes in weight, they utilized a torsion balance designed for precise measurements.
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Perhaps the problem is the traditional torsion balance.
Academic text (2002) -
The group employed a novel method that abjures the traditional torsion balance.
Academic text (2002) -
The most recent (1) is the only one not done with some variant of a torsion balance.
Academic text (2002) -
But it has the important virtue of being free of systematic errors peculiar to torsion balances.
Academic text (2002) -
They use a sophisticated torsion balance to compare the accelerations of various pairs of materials toward Earth, the Sun, and the Galaxy.
Academic text (1999) -
This agreement is all the more heartening because the new experiment is so different from all the torsion balance experiments, and therefore susceptible to very different systematic errors.
Academic text (2002) -
To get away from torsion balances entirely, the Zürich group chose to measure G with a beam balance.
Academic text (2002) -
The scientist measured tiny forces using a torsion balance to ensure accurate results.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is straightforwardly compositional: 'torsion' (twisting) modifies 'balance' (an instrument for measuring/equilibrium), so together they denote an instrument that measures twisting forces. This modifier+head compound pattern is common and often mirrored in other languages, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Torsion balance is named for how it works: a thin wire twists, the torsion, when a tiny force pulls on a beam that hangs from it, and the beam's movement acts like a balance. That's why a torsion balance is used to 'measure' tiny forces, because the amount of twist shows how strong the force is.
