Harper Harrell
C Band
January 7th, 2019
Measurement Extra Credit
In 1875, when the Treaty of the Meter was passed, the goal of the 17 nations represented was to have a common measurement system that was used internationally. This would make trade much easier, as before, one person’s definition of a unit would almost always be different than another’s. An example of this, which is given in the podcast we listened to earlier in the year, was purchasing bread in France before the Revolution. There were massive lines outside of bakeries since a lot of people were starving, and the bakeries could not keep up with demand. In order to solve this problem, they would make their loaves lighter but look the same, so that they could charge the same amount for them. The people became mad as they were getting cheated out of their money, and were not getting full enough from the bread, so they rioted to try and make a common unit that was used by all bakeries which would define the price of bread based on its mass. Because of many instances like this, the people revolted in France, and demanded for an international common measurement system, which was finally passed in 1875.
After decades of the system evolving, the Treaty of the Meter became SI in 1960, and the scientific community made it their goal to have “a system truly based on fundamental properties of nature.” By 1983, all of the SI units were based solely on nature, except for mass, which was still based on the Le Grand K, a cylinder of platinum-iridium, that defined the internationally used kilogram for all. However, the vote passed in November of 2018 to redefine the definition of a kilogram to its amount in Planck constant. The Planck constant is “a quantity that relates a light particle’s energy to its frequency,” therefore making a kilogram defined by properties of nature, finally fulfilling the goal to have all seven SI units defined by nature.
The reason why this seemingly minute and negligible change could be a “turning point for humanity” is for multiple reasons, the main one being that it makes all mass measurements much more precise. An example of this is pharmaceutical companies, they often deal with measurements that are one million times smaller than the kilogram. Before this redefinition, there could be noticeable imprecisions in the mass of the substances since their mass was defined by something one million times heavier, that only had precision to a very low extent. However, with the redefinition, the definition of a kilogram allows much more precision, as it comes from nature and can be checked against a more precise amount of light particle energy. Another reason why this change is so important, is because a precise measurement can be made anywhere in the world, or even universe, as the mass could just be checked against light’s particle energy. With more astronomical advancements on the horizon, this is especially exciting because if scientists were to come across intelligent life, they could send the “aliens” our definitions to let them know a bit more about human life. Another reason that this could be helpful in society, is because increasing precision often allows for more technological advancement because of the ability to be more certain when creating new inventions. The article claims that “every time humanity has increased the accuracy and precision of measurements, better technologies have resulted” which means that, if history repeats itself in anyway, it is highly possible this 150-year push could result in huge advancements in society.
Bibliography
≤ kg [Audio blog interview]. (2014, June 13). Retrieved December 27, 2018, from https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/kg
Materese, R. (2018, December 06). A Turning Point for Humanity: Redefining the World's Measurement System. Retrieved December 13, 2018, from https://www.nist.gov/si-redefinition/turning-point-humanity-redefining-worlds-measurement-system
Nasser, L. (2014, July 9). The Meter: The Measure of a Man [Web log post]. Retrieved December 27, 2018, from https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/meter-measure-man
C Band
January 7th, 2019
Measurement Extra Credit
In 1875, when the Treaty of the Meter was passed, the goal of the 17 nations represented was to have a common measurement system that was used internationally. This would make trade much easier, as before, one person’s definition of a unit would almost always be different than another’s. An example of this, which is given in the podcast we listened to earlier in the year, was purchasing bread in France before the Revolution. There were massive lines outside of bakeries since a lot of people were starving, and the bakeries could not keep up with demand. In order to solve this problem, they would make their loaves lighter but look the same, so that they could charge the same amount for them. The people became mad as they were getting cheated out of their money, and were not getting full enough from the bread, so they rioted to try and make a common unit that was used by all bakeries which would define the price of bread based on its mass. Because of many instances like this, the people revolted in France, and demanded for an international common measurement system, which was finally passed in 1875.
After decades of the system evolving, the Treaty of the Meter became SI in 1960, and the scientific community made it their goal to have “a system truly based on fundamental properties of nature.” By 1983, all of the SI units were based solely on nature, except for mass, which was still based on the Le Grand K, a cylinder of platinum-iridium, that defined the internationally used kilogram for all. However, the vote passed in November of 2018 to redefine the definition of a kilogram to its amount in Planck constant. The Planck constant is “a quantity that relates a light particle’s energy to its frequency,” therefore making a kilogram defined by properties of nature, finally fulfilling the goal to have all seven SI units defined by nature.
The reason why this seemingly minute and negligible change could be a “turning point for humanity” is for multiple reasons, the main one being that it makes all mass measurements much more precise. An example of this is pharmaceutical companies, they often deal with measurements that are one million times smaller than the kilogram. Before this redefinition, there could be noticeable imprecisions in the mass of the substances since their mass was defined by something one million times heavier, that only had precision to a very low extent. However, with the redefinition, the definition of a kilogram allows much more precision, as it comes from nature and can be checked against a more precise amount of light particle energy. Another reason why this change is so important, is because a precise measurement can be made anywhere in the world, or even universe, as the mass could just be checked against light’s particle energy. With more astronomical advancements on the horizon, this is especially exciting because if scientists were to come across intelligent life, they could send the “aliens” our definitions to let them know a bit more about human life. Another reason that this could be helpful in society, is because increasing precision often allows for more technological advancement because of the ability to be more certain when creating new inventions. The article claims that “every time humanity has increased the accuracy and precision of measurements, better technologies have resulted” which means that, if history repeats itself in anyway, it is highly possible this 150-year push could result in huge advancements in society.
Bibliography
≤ kg [Audio blog interview]. (2014, June 13). Retrieved December 27, 2018, from https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/kg
Materese, R. (2018, December 06). A Turning Point for Humanity: Redefining the World's Measurement System. Retrieved December 13, 2018, from https://www.nist.gov/si-redefinition/turning-point-humanity-redefining-worlds-measurement-system
Nasser, L. (2014, July 9). The Meter: The Measure of a Man [Web log post]. Retrieved December 27, 2018, from https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/meter-measure-man
