Choosing the right measuring instrument

Every measurement needs an instrument that suits the quantity, its size and how accurate the answer must be. For length, a measuring tape reads long distances to the nearest centimetre, a metre rule reads to 1 mm, a vernier caliper to 0.1 mm and a screw gauge to 0.01 mm. Mass is measured with a balance, time with a stopwatch, and the volume of a liquid, or of an irregular solid by displacement, with a measuring cylinder.