torsion balance

American  

noun

1. an instrument for measuring small forces, as electric attraction or repulsion, by determining the amount of torsion or twisting they cause in a slender wire or filament.

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torsion balance British  

noun

1. an instrument used to measure small forces, esp electric or magnetic forces, by the torsion they produce in a thin wire, thread, or rod

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Etymology

Origin of torsion balance

First recorded in 1820–30

Example Sentences

As the outer masses attracted the inner ones, the torsion balance rotated and twisted the ribbon.

From Science Daily • May 18, 2026

To do so, he used a piece of apparatus called a torsion balance.

From Economist • Jan. 26, 2017

But the torsion balance did not work well in hilly land.

From Time Magazine Archive

Reich, mean density of the earth, as ascertained by the torsion balance, 170; temperature of the mines in Saxony, 174.

From COSMOS: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1 by Humboldt, Alexander von

It is known that Cavendish was the first who succeeded by means of the torsion balance in effecting fairly precise measurements.

From The New Physics and Its Evolution by Poincaré, Lucien