Last update
The difference between Calibration and Adjustment
Calibration and adjustment are two similar processes that are often confused and wrongly used interchangeably. This article aims to clear up the differences. The difference between Calibration and Adjustment The National Physics Laboratory clearly explains the key differences between CALIBRATION and ADJUSTMENT:
- Calibration: is defined as a set of operations that establish, under specified conditions, the relationship between the values of quantities indicated by a measuring instrument or measuring system and the corresponding values realised by standards.Sometimes, however, the word calibration is misused to describe the process of altering the performance of an instrument to ensure that the values it indicates are correct within specified limits (e.g. adjusting an instrument until its reading agrees with that of another instrument). Strictly speaking this is adjustment.
- Adjustment: is defined as the operation of bringing a measuring instrument into a state of performance suitable for its use. This is not calibration. Although the nature and magnitude of the adjustment is often determined by a pre-adjustment calibration, sometimes known as a first calibration.
- first calibration (to determine the approximate magnitude of the necessary adjustment)
- adjustment
- second calibration.
The difference between Accuracy and Precision
Accuracy and precision are often considered synonyms. Today, with the development of high tech equipment and measuring devices, metrology has differentiated the two.
- Accuracy: indicates how a given measurement is close to the real value.
- Precision: refers to the closeness between independent measurements.
The accuracy and precision in solar irradiation measuring devices
Physicists and those involved in solar energy business know that the Sun irradiates the Earth’s surface with a broad spectrum of rays, from ultraviolet to far infrared.

