Robert Hooke und die frühe Geschichte der Federwaage

A large number of the so-called electronic balances, for example those using wire strain gauges, are based on the elastic deformation of solid materials, and on the electrical measurement of the resulting changes in length. Such instruments must therefore be grouped into the class of spring balances. The spring balance operates within the limits of proportionality according to the law discovered by and named after Robert Hooke. No precise information about the spring balance can be found so far in the literature about balances: it is assumed that it was invented before 1700, without knowledge of the name of the inventor. As the result of a literature research it is shown that Robert Hooke found experimentally in 1676 with „ut tensio sic vis”︁ not only the physical principles which led to the law of elasticity: he also drew practical conclusions from it, and in the treatise De potentia restitutiva, published 1678, he described the most important types of spring balances. Experiments carried out by him to demonstrate the reduction of gravity with increasing altitude by using such a balance led, however, to a negative result because of its lack of sensitivity. Further developments for more than 100 years were necessary, until the spring balance come into more general application.     

Maithrimurti,Mudagamuwe, Wohlwollen,Mitleid, Freude und Gleichmut. Eine ideengeschichtliche Untersuchung der vier apramānas in der buddhistischen Ethik und Spiritualität von den Anfängen bis hin zum frühen Yogācāra

Indo-Iranian Journal -