How to Read a Digital Bathroom Scale

Weigh yourself by evenly applying your weight on the scale.

A digital bathroom scale is a device that you can use to determine your current body weight. Digital scales function by transferring the force of your weight to a load cell. The load cell has an electric charge, and the force causes a change in resistance of the cell. The change in electrical resistance is transferred to a microchip for calculation and eventual display on a liquid crystal display. Reading a digital bathroom scale is a very straightforward task.

Instructions

1. Stand on the digital scale with both feet evenly spaced apart. You should weigh yourself while wearing as little as possible to avoid affecting your weight reading. Alternatively, wear the same thing each time you weigh yourself to balance out the weight of your clothes.

2. Look at the liquid crystal display of the digital scale. Take note of the number displayed, including any decimal points. The number displayed is your weight.

3. Look for measurement symbols such as "lbs." or "kg" to determine whether the measurement is displayed in pounds or kilograms. If no measurement is displayed, the default of most scales is pounds, particularly in the United States where the metric system is not used.

References

• "Fundamentals of Physics"; David Halliday; 2007
• "Conair WW39 Digital Glass Scale Manual"; Conair; 2009