As I understand it, the dry weight of something is its weight minus the weight of its water content. Is this the definition? What about dry cell weight?
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1$\begingroup$ Why would dry cell weight be different? $\endgroup$– terdonOct 29, 2013 at 0:50
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$\begingroup$ dry weight is used in non-biological sense too.. thats the difference $\endgroup$– WYSIWYGOct 29, 2013 at 4:31
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$\begingroup$ @terdon so the definition I've written of dry weight is accurate? $\endgroup$– a06eOct 29, 2013 at 14:18
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$\begingroup$ biology.stackexchange.com/q/13692/561 $\endgroup$– a06eNov 27, 2013 at 23:06
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$\begingroup$ some techniques enable to measure the individual cell dry mass using microscopy. The company phasics seem to have developped this tool. $\endgroup$– user5076Dec 3, 2013 at 11:43
1 Answer
According to my Henderson's Dictionary of Biological Terms, dry weight is
The weight or mass of organic matter or soil after removal of water by heating to constant weight.
So yes, your definition is correct and it is also applicable to cells. The dry weight of cells is the weight left when their water content has been removed by heating.