Georgia Groome
E Band
January 14th, 2019
Redefining the World's Measurement System
There is a lot of communication about the consistency of measurements throughout our world. For example: how do I know that my inch is the same length as yours? How long is an inch? Exactly how long? How do I know if someone in China, per se, has the same inch as me? Measurements allow people from different cultures to understand each other because of the basic standard for all measurements; the metric system.
This standard came into fruition in 18th century France where every culture and country had their own units of measure. There were about 250,000 different units in circulation which made things extremely confusing; it was especially difficult for traders as there was no widely accepted way to explain the quantity of what they had in their possession. Then, in the 1780s, there was a famine; everyone was hungry and desperate for food so they demanded that there be a unified established system of weight and measure. So, France made new standards that everyone in the world could use; it was intended to be eternal and unchanging. This new standard was based off of the authority of nature.
It was at this time in France when what would come to be considered the International System of Units (which is compiled of seven base units including the the second, meter, and kilogram) materialized. All other units of measure are derived from these base units; they define measurements of time, distance, mass, electric current, temperature, the amount of a substance, and the luminous intensity of a substance. Some of these units are truly based off of the fundamental constants of nature, but others (such as the units for mass and temperature) had not been.
For example: the kilogram. It was derived from taking the circumference of the earth, taking a quarter of that circumference and dividing that quarter by ten million to create the meter. From there they then divided the meter by 10, cubed it, filled the cube with water, took the mass of the water, and minted a cylinder of metal with that mass: this was the original kilogram, commonly referred to as the IPK. The IPK is a physical object which can be worn down over time and which is susceptible to gaining or losing mass; in fact, in 1989, the keepers of the IPK discovered that, after putting it in a steam bath, washing it, and commencing a ceremonial weighing, the IPK was lighter than any copy they compared it to. However, any measurement of the IPK must always be exactly one kilogram because it is our only (physical) standard of the kilogram; there is no scientific uncertainty in the measurement. This doesn’t feel too fair to the rest of the world, does it?
Scientists agree, and in an effort to redefine the IPK and base it off of the fundamentals of nature, they have created an object that looks similar to a metal pot with gizmos, parts, and wires all tangled inside that represent the weight value of one kilogram. These scientists set up an experiment where this object is on one side of a see-saw device and on the other side there is a highly variable magnet that isn’t touching that side of the scale itself, but exerting a force on that side. This force is used to hold the balance still and is equivalent to the value of a kilogram. This way, scientists can convert the value of that force into a number that everyone can agree on; this value would be the redefined kilogram. The kilogram would no longer be a physical “thing” but a part of the fundamentals of the universe. After much collaboration in the scientific community, scientists have finally come to a consensus regarding the value of the redefined kilogram, and so they came together in Versailles, France, and conducted a vote.
This recent vote to transform the International System of Units realizes the original goals of the people who established the metric system in 1875 because now all measurements are based off of the fundamentals of the earth. This is a turning point for humanity because the redefined kilogram makes it possible to conduct more precise science anywhere in the world without needing calibration to the IPK. Manufacturers of scientific instruments will find this most useful as they will now be able to better determine measures of electric quantities such as the ampere, the volt and the ohm.
This change affects everyone’s life because more than six and a half billion people use the metric system daily! That’s more than the amount of people who can speak any single language, more than the followers of any single religion, and more than the citizens of any single nation. The metric system is the basis of modern life and technology. We have already used the metric system to create a world with smartphones, to deepen our understanding of the universe, and to complete everyday activities we take for granted. Who’s to say what immense scientific and technological innovations are in store for humanity due to the revised measurement system?
Works Cited
Materese, R. (2018, December 06). A Turning Point for Humanity: Redefining the World's Measurement
System. Retrieved from https://www.nist.gov/si-redefinition/turning-point-humanity-redefining-worlds-measurement-system.
The Meter: The Measure of a Man | Radiolab. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/meter-measure-man.
≤ kg | Radiolab. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/kg.
E Band
January 14th, 2019
Redefining the World's Measurement System
There is a lot of communication about the consistency of measurements throughout our world. For example: how do I know that my inch is the same length as yours? How long is an inch? Exactly how long? How do I know if someone in China, per se, has the same inch as me? Measurements allow people from different cultures to understand each other because of the basic standard for all measurements; the metric system.
This standard came into fruition in 18th century France where every culture and country had their own units of measure. There were about 250,000 different units in circulation which made things extremely confusing; it was especially difficult for traders as there was no widely accepted way to explain the quantity of what they had in their possession. Then, in the 1780s, there was a famine; everyone was hungry and desperate for food so they demanded that there be a unified established system of weight and measure. So, France made new standards that everyone in the world could use; it was intended to be eternal and unchanging. This new standard was based off of the authority of nature.
It was at this time in France when what would come to be considered the International System of Units (which is compiled of seven base units including the the second, meter, and kilogram) materialized. All other units of measure are derived from these base units; they define measurements of time, distance, mass, electric current, temperature, the amount of a substance, and the luminous intensity of a substance. Some of these units are truly based off of the fundamental constants of nature, but others (such as the units for mass and temperature) had not been.
For example: the kilogram. It was derived from taking the circumference of the earth, taking a quarter of that circumference and dividing that quarter by ten million to create the meter. From there they then divided the meter by 10, cubed it, filled the cube with water, took the mass of the water, and minted a cylinder of metal with that mass: this was the original kilogram, commonly referred to as the IPK. The IPK is a physical object which can be worn down over time and which is susceptible to gaining or losing mass; in fact, in 1989, the keepers of the IPK discovered that, after putting it in a steam bath, washing it, and commencing a ceremonial weighing, the IPK was lighter than any copy they compared it to. However, any measurement of the IPK must always be exactly one kilogram because it is our only (physical) standard of the kilogram; there is no scientific uncertainty in the measurement. This doesn’t feel too fair to the rest of the world, does it?
Scientists agree, and in an effort to redefine the IPK and base it off of the fundamentals of nature, they have created an object that looks similar to a metal pot with gizmos, parts, and wires all tangled inside that represent the weight value of one kilogram. These scientists set up an experiment where this object is on one side of a see-saw device and on the other side there is a highly variable magnet that isn’t touching that side of the scale itself, but exerting a force on that side. This force is used to hold the balance still and is equivalent to the value of a kilogram. This way, scientists can convert the value of that force into a number that everyone can agree on; this value would be the redefined kilogram. The kilogram would no longer be a physical “thing” but a part of the fundamentals of the universe. After much collaboration in the scientific community, scientists have finally come to a consensus regarding the value of the redefined kilogram, and so they came together in Versailles, France, and conducted a vote.
This recent vote to transform the International System of Units realizes the original goals of the people who established the metric system in 1875 because now all measurements are based off of the fundamentals of the earth. This is a turning point for humanity because the redefined kilogram makes it possible to conduct more precise science anywhere in the world without needing calibration to the IPK. Manufacturers of scientific instruments will find this most useful as they will now be able to better determine measures of electric quantities such as the ampere, the volt and the ohm.
This change affects everyone’s life because more than six and a half billion people use the metric system daily! That’s more than the amount of people who can speak any single language, more than the followers of any single religion, and more than the citizens of any single nation. The metric system is the basis of modern life and technology. We have already used the metric system to create a world with smartphones, to deepen our understanding of the universe, and to complete everyday activities we take for granted. Who’s to say what immense scientific and technological innovations are in store for humanity due to the revised measurement system?
Works Cited
Materese, R. (2018, December 06). A Turning Point for Humanity: Redefining the World's Measurement
System. Retrieved from https://www.nist.gov/si-redefinition/turning-point-humanity-redefining-worlds-measurement-system.
The Meter: The Measure of a Man | Radiolab. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/meter-measure-man.
≤ kg | Radiolab. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/kg.
