The silent cure for arbitrariness
You probably would be gratified in the encounter with Dr. Eben Neequaye Kotey who brought me to a new dimension of life. The institution where he works never ceases to amaze me. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR-Ghana, looks like the catalyst we never knew for curiosity would locate the Midas touch among the scientists. They hold the keys to a more organized system absolutely, and the most likely answer to the crude methods we have been living with for donkey years.
Dr. Neequaye heads a not-too-conspicuous yet sensitive unit in one of the institutes of CSIR. Metrology phonetically sounds like meteorology but the two are so different. Meteorology relates to the study of the weather and metrology refers to the branch of science that deals with measurements.
At the CSIR-Institute of Industrial Research, CSIR-IIR, you find yourself in a whole new world when cast in the Metrology Division where the loose ends of many endeavors are properly tightened to snap any cascading effects. Arguments and uncertainties are mostly consequential of activities without scientific interpretation.
Metrology is the candid and decisive means of curing jitters associated with business transactions whose outcomes are sometimes protean by default. New York is a perfect example of cognizance of metrology and the practice leaves one in no doubt that there was value for money. You walk into a restaurant, pick items in a buffet, and you are not saddled at the tail end of the process with the kind of haggling that leaves parties sweating, and even fighting over pricing inconsistencies.
New York settles that by putting quantities to a measuring scale. Every weight mass has a corresponding price template, subject to variations of the circumstances, that induces the recalibration of the machines to reflect the trend.
The subject matter of our consideration provides interesting yardsticks to determine the effort or extent of activities undertaken. The malls dispense items in weight. Medicine is measured in units called grams. Electricity pressure is measured in voltage. And the units for sound levels are in decibels. All have their distinct labs where sensing devices are used in the measurement of electricity pressure, temperature, weight, and sound.
The process must be airtight thus the arena is cordoned off to avoid air weight adding up to the weight of the item to be measured.
What is the one thing we can’t see, we can’t smell, or touch, but its weight is still heavy over us?
It’s subjectively clear, odorless, and colorless and consists of different gases, including nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), argon, carbon dioxide, and other small traces of other types of gases and aerosols. This substance is air.
What could compromise or affect other readings is the presence of air since it is a substance with mass.
In the open air, barometers, chemical smoke, and wind velocity meters are used for air pressure measurement. In the Pressure Laboratory of CSIR-IIR Metrology, pressures such as oil and air pressures have different assessment procedures and tools. It takes a look at Pneumatic Pressure which is the pressure exerted by a pressurized gas such as air, and Hydraulic Pressure is the liquid equivalent of air pressure.
The important duty of calibrating the pressures in autoclaves, boilers, pipelines, and gauges is performed in Ghana by only the CSIR-IIR Metrology Unit.
Tuna fish, boiled in industrial autoclaves is measured for if it exceeds acceptable thresholds, an explosion could occur. Oxygyen dispensed in hospitals have pressure gauges which are regulated by metrology experts.
In the Electricity Lab, the technician Shamo Badu explained that it checks voltage currents and earth resistance pressure. The highest of measurement digits across the spectrum is given by the instrument called a multi-meter. At the time of speaking to CSIR-IIR, the other of the two instruments in Ghana belonging to the Ghana Standards Authority had broken down and was not in use.
Dr. Neequaye says CSIR-IIR is the only institution in Ghana that operates an Acoustic Calibration System. It measures vibration and noise levels. There is another aspect of the decibels family which is legal metrology applied by law enforcement agencies to check traffic noise pollution.
That led me to pry into the noise made by airplanes. The procedure of measurement is called weighted noise levels. For noise sources in motion, like aircraft, noise levels can change over time. For example, the sound level of a plane increases as it approaches, and decreases as it pales away into the distance.