DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY – DASMARINAS

Dasmariñas, Cavite
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, ARCHITECTURE, AND TECHNOLOGY

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING PROGRAM

Name: __________________________ Date Performed: __________________

Year & Section: __________________ Rating: __________________________

Experiment No. 4

AREA MEASUREMENT BY WEIGHING METHOD

OBJECTIVE:

To determine the area of an irregular curve, similar to a load curve from a power
plant, by weighing method.

THEORY:

The weight-area method is often used for solid and semi-solid spreaders. The
procedure involves measuring the spreader discharge over a small measured area. The
application rate is determined by dividing the collected material (weight) by the
collection area. The weighing method is practically accurate since the density of the
paper is uniform throughout the area and the weighing instrument used is accurate up
to one-fourth of a milligram.
MATERIALS AND APPARATUS:

Qty Unit Description

1 pc digital weighing scale
1 pc scissors
1 pc ruler
1 pc pencil
1 pc bond paper

PROCEDURE:

1. Draw a known geometric shape, example, a square with 100 mm edge.

2. Cut the square, measure the actual edge and determine the area in square mm.
3. Draw an irregular curve similar to a load curve in a power plant. The size should
be around 140 mm long and 90 mm high.
4. Cut the irregular curve.
5. Weigh the cut square and irregular curve using the digital weighing scale.
6. Compute the area of the irregular curve in square mm using the formula

Area of irregular curve = Area of square (wt. of irregular curve/wt. of square)

7. Calculate the % difference using the area of the square as the reference.
8. Conduct three (3) trials using other dimensions of square and irregular curve.
WORK SHEET
Group: ____________________ Date performed: _____________________

Group Leader: ______________ Instructor: __________________________

Group members:

1. _______________________________
2. _______________________________
3. _______________________________
4. _______________________________

DATA SHEET:

Trial Edge of the Area of the Weight of the Weight of the %

square, mm square, mm2 square, mg irregular curve, mg difference
1
2
3
Average:

QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS:

1. What are the means of measuring the area of irregular curve?

2. A 120 mm square weigh 773 mg. If an irregular curve weighs 520 mg, calculate
the area of the irregular curve in mm2. Round-off to four (4) significant figures.
3. The radius of a circular paper is 70 mm and it weighs 826 mg. If an irregular
curve weighs 680 mg, calculate the area of an irregular curve in mm2. Round-off
to the nearest integer.