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  Is every measurement electromagnetic?

+ 0 like - 0 dislike
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Is there any measurement device that does not use electromagnetism to perform the measurement?

I performed a literature search and I did not find any paper on the topic.

My bathroom scale uses electromagnetism.

Using my ruler requires touch and light.

All watches I know use springs or electric current.

Is there any measurement device that does NOT use electromagnetism?

Also all quantum devices use electromagnetism. None uses gravity and none the nuclear forces.

Why is  this the case? Are there any papers or book chapters on this?

asked May 25 in General Physics by Claudia [ no revision ]

You consider "touch" and "springs" electromagnetic. This is perfectly justified, in my opinion, because touch and springs are based on the forces between the constituents (molecules, atoms, or even nuclei and electrons) of the touching (body) part or of the springs, and these forces are based on electromagnetism. 

However:

1) On a deeper level, the nuclei of the constituents of, e.g., the springs are based on nuclear forces. Your bathroom scales also use gravity, as it is gravity which pulls you onto the scales while the electromagnetic forces keep your bathroom floor intact.

2) Ultimately, measurements make information available to us. This implies that the information is presented in such a way that we can receive and process it. Said way, thus, has to be compatible with our senses. We can see (i.e., receive light and process it to generate a visual impression), but we have no direct sense for nuclear forces or gravity. The short range of nuclear forces also makes them very bad signal carriers on our biological scale.

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