What is the deferance between calibration and adjustment?

Question

What is the deferance between calibration and adjustment?

Answer 1

adjustment is a change from one set of parameters to another and calibration is a change to a set parameter. you must adjust to calibrate but not the other way around.

Answer 2

Calibration is to compare against a standard. e.g. to check that a pressure gauge is reading accurately it would be checked against a standard pressure gauge (often under the control of a national standard laboratory). The calibration certificate will say what the true reading is when a particular reading is taken. There is no adjustment.

Adjustment is when changes are made. e.g. A watch might be adjusted to local time

Answer 3

An example might help:

Suppose you have a bench power supply that can output anything from 0-30V. it has a voltmeter on the front.

Adjustment would be turning the control k**b until the meter shows the voltage you want it to output.

Calibration would be adjusting the internal circuitry so that when the meter shows 30V, the power supply is actually outputting 30V

So calibration is a special kind of adjustment that is done to a piece of equipment to ensure that it is accurate.