"David Scheidt" > wrote in message
...
> Felice > wrote:
>
> :"David Scheidt" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>
> :<snip>
> :> As long as you use the same measuring cup. They're remarkably
> :> inaccurate. And lots of things you measure in them are hard to
> :> measure accurately, because they've got an opaque meniscus.
>
> :An "opaque meniscus"? That sounds serious. I hope there's a cure.
>
> When you pour a liquid into a clean container, it tends to climb up
> the walls (down, if you're measuring mercury). That film is the
> meniscus. If you don't account for it, you'll read the contents of
> cup as higher than they actually are. Water is easy to adjust for,
> since it's transparent. Milk, oils and the like are harder, as
> they're opaque.

Thanks, David. That explains it a lot more clearly than my dictionary or
Wiki. The only meniscus I knew was the knee one!

Felice