gravimetrisk

Gravimetrisk is an adjective used in Swedish and Norwegian to describe methods, measurements, or phenomena based on gravimetry or weighing. The term derives from gravitas (weight) and metron (measure). In practice, gravimetrisk analysis refers to gravimetric methods, where the quantity of a component is determined by forming a solid compound of known composition, isolating it by filtration, drying or ignition, and weighing the final mass. The mass is related to the amount of the target substance by stoichiometry. Common examples include gravimetric determination of chloride as silver chloride, sulfate as barium sulfate, or moisture content by loss on drying.

In geophysics and geodesy, gravimetric techniques measure variations in Earth's gravitational field to infer subsurface density contrasts. Instruments such as portable gravimeters and superconducting gravimeters map gravity anomalies, which are interpreted to reveal ore bodies, voids, or crustal structure. Corrections for altitude, latitude, topography, and isostasy are applied to produce meaningful anomalies.

Other uses include gravimetric moisture analysis in agriculture, textiles, and construction, where a sample's weight change before and after drying yields moisture content. Advantages include direct mass-based quantification and high accuracy under controlled conditions; limitations include time consumption, potential errors from incomplete precipitation, sample loss, and the need for precise mass measurement and environmental stability.

See also gravimetry, gravimetric analysis, loss on drying, buoyancy corrections.