84 TRE CALIBRATION OF WEIGHTS AMD BALANCES 7.8.2.2 Repeatability test ‘The repeatability of measurement s, should be cetermined every six months (see section 7.3.2) to ensure that the balance has not developed a defect that will affect mass measurements. The values obtained should be recorded so that the latest result s{latest) can be compared with the previous result (previous). This test should always be carried out by the same operator. Assuming that the repeatability is always measured with nine degrees of freedom, then sAlatest) should not exceed 1.78s,(previous). Furthermore, s,{atest) should not be greater than twice the repeatability given in the most recent calibration report for the balance. If these requirements are not met, there isa fairly strong indication that the performance of the balance hss deteriorated. The user should consult the calibrating laboratory to see if calibration, servicing or some other action is required. ‘A more sophisticated version of this test is possible, in which the previously measured values ‘of the repeatability are pooled. See Appendix G for details, and note that it may not be advisable to include measurements made before the most recent balance calibration in the pool. This version of the fest gives a more sensitive indication of any problem arising with the balance i 7.83 Air buoyancy and weighing Since the corrections to balance reading given in & report were obtained using standard weights with a density of approximately 8000 kg.m”, they will be in error when weighing materials of Jifferent density, because of the different buoyancy. (See Chapter 2 for detailed discussion of air buoyancy) For mass measurement with a calibrated single-pan beam balance, the buoyancy correction is uiven by equation (7.8), where py is the density of the inbuilt weights of the bakance. In most cases, op can be taken to be 8000 ke. if itis not known: aval, rif z)" (78) P Ps Ie itis necessary to weigh light (low density) materials with a mass uncertainty in the order of 40.05% or less, estimate the likely size buoyancy correction as follows: For the altitude of the laboratory, find the mean value of 7; Table J.1 in Appendix J may be used for this purpose. Then substitute this value into equation (7-8), while putting equal to the density of the material being weighed and equal to 8000 kg.m *. For instance, Table J.1 indieates that the mean laboratory air density at 700 m is 1.099 ka.m™. Substituting this value into the equation for p, and putting p equal to 1000 kg.n0”, one obtains 0.009% for the estimate of the buoyancy correction when weighing water. IF the correction calculated in the previous paragraph represents a serious error if ignored, then corrections determined from equation (7.8) must to be applied