From quartz crystal microbalance to fundamental principles of mass measurements

This article reveals that the mass sensitivity of the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) is acceleration dependent and this feature is not specific to only the QCM, but also is valid in the case of other balances. During quartz crystal vibration a megagravity field is created at the surface of the quartz resonator. The existence of this field is demonstrated using C-nanoparticles deposition. It is shown that the product of the minimum detectable mass and the acceleration acting on that mass is a constant for both QCM and beam balances, thus, explaining why QCM is more sensitive than are conventional analytical microbalances. The article introduces the concept of acceleration-dependent mass sensitivity and explains the origins of QCM sensitivity to a liquid viscosity. Based on this concept, several fundamental principles for mass measurements are formulated.