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How to Find Weight Without a Scale

It's often easiest to determine the weight of a person or an object with a scale or balance. Yet there are other ways to measure weight, including a technique that uses theories of physics along with a little bit of math. This method relies on the principle of water displacement. If you do not have access to a scale and need to determine the weight of a person or an object, water displacement provides an alternative technique to accurately measure weight.

Things You'll Need

  • Bathtub
  • Tape
  • Bucket
  • Large container for liquids, marked in units such as gallons
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Instructions

  1. How to Determine Weight Without a Scale

    • 1

      Fill the bathtub with enough water to allow the person or object to be immersed without the bathtub overflowing. The temperature of the water does not matter, but if you are trying to measure a person's weight, warm water may be more comfortable.

    • 2

      Use a small piece of tape to mark the level of water in the bathtub. One edge of the piece of tape should be positioned in line with the level of the water.

    • 3

      Place the person or object to be weighed into the bathtub. Avoid allowing any water to spill out of the bathtub since this would skew your results, causing the weight you calculate to be inaccurate and less than the actual weight of the person or object.

    • 4

      Scoop water from the bathtub using the bucket, while the object or person remains submerged. Collect all of the water you remove in another container that measures volume in gallons. Continue scooping water out of the bathtub until the amount of water returns to the level originally marked by the piece of tape.

    • 5

      Multiply the number of gallons collected by 8.35 pounds, which is the approximate weight of one gallon of water. Therefore, once you measure the amount of water displaced by the person or object you hoped to weigh by scooping that water from the bathtub and measuring the total amount in gallons, you can multiply the number of gallons by 8.35 pounds to determine the weight, in pounds, of the person or object.

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