Jake Srebnick
Redefining the World's Measurement System
On November 16, 2018, sixty countries came together in France and finalized the International System of Units. These countries voted to redefine the seven SI base units. Among these units is the kilogram. The definition of many units of measurement, such as the amp, meter, or second, is extremely complicated. They are all defined using complex terms of numbers that do not seem to even provide any insight into what they are trying to define. Up until this meeting on November 16, 2018, a kilogram had been defined as “a plum-sized thing” constructed of platinum, called Le Grande K. This is the only “thing” we use to measure other “things.” This important work originated in France one hundred and forty-three years earlier.
In France, during the 1700s there was a famine due to a shortage of grain. Bakers began to lighten their bread loaves but charged the same price as they did before. This outraged customers, and they started to demand a standard for measurement. The goal of creating a standard unit to measure with was to have it used around the world in a way that was constant and unchanging for everyone. In 1875, high ranking officials from seventeen different countries signed the international Treaty of the Meter. This treaty helped in creating a “common measurement” system that would later become the International System of Units. The goal of this treaty was to create an international language in which members of the scientific community could communicate across language barriers and still compare and contrast their work.
The vote on November 16, 2018, meant that we no longer had to rely on physical objects for precision measurements. Therefore, all of the worlds measurement units will be accurately defined by natures fundamental laws. Thus, people from all over the world are able to precisely measure mass, temperature, electric current, and amount of substance (in a standard and highly accurate manner). This is a turning point for the International System of Units and created a much more reliable basis for measurement. Scientists have decided to base the SI base units off of constant values such as Planck’s constant (a quantity that relates a light particle’s energy to its frequency measured by scientists). This eliminates the aspect of there being a fixed unit determined by a physical object that will inevitably change over time. Because we have redefined the kilogram, all of the SI base units are defined without using a physical object. This means that we can communicate measurements much more precisely and accurately all around the world.
Although the redefinition of SI units does not impact my life directly or indirectly right now, my future could be completely different. The redefinition could help to solve existing problems or allow for new inventions that could dramatically change the way humans live, communicate, and function. As stated in “A Turning Point for Humanity: Redefining the World’s Measurement System” concerning the future and what this redefinition could hold; “It’s difficult to know but it’s a safe bet. Every time humanity has increased the accuracy and precision of measurements, better technologies have resulted” (Materese, 2018). Thus, the fields of medicine, measurement, science, engineering, (to name a few), could be forever changed.
References
Abumrad, Jad, and Robert Krulwich. (WNYC). (2014, June 13). ≤ Kg [Audio Podcast]. Retrieved January 13, 2019, from 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
Redefining the World's Measurement System
On November 16, 2018, sixty countries came together in France and finalized the International System of Units. These countries voted to redefine the seven SI base units. Among these units is the kilogram. The definition of many units of measurement, such as the amp, meter, or second, is extremely complicated. They are all defined using complex terms of numbers that do not seem to even provide any insight into what they are trying to define. Up until this meeting on November 16, 2018, a kilogram had been defined as “a plum-sized thing” constructed of platinum, called Le Grande K. This is the only “thing” we use to measure other “things.” This important work originated in France one hundred and forty-three years earlier.
In France, during the 1700s there was a famine due to a shortage of grain. Bakers began to lighten their bread loaves but charged the same price as they did before. This outraged customers, and they started to demand a standard for measurement. The goal of creating a standard unit to measure with was to have it used around the world in a way that was constant and unchanging for everyone. In 1875, high ranking officials from seventeen different countries signed the international Treaty of the Meter. This treaty helped in creating a “common measurement” system that would later become the International System of Units. The goal of this treaty was to create an international language in which members of the scientific community could communicate across language barriers and still compare and contrast their work.
The vote on November 16, 2018, meant that we no longer had to rely on physical objects for precision measurements. Therefore, all of the worlds measurement units will be accurately defined by natures fundamental laws. Thus, people from all over the world are able to precisely measure mass, temperature, electric current, and amount of substance (in a standard and highly accurate manner). This is a turning point for the International System of Units and created a much more reliable basis for measurement. Scientists have decided to base the SI base units off of constant values such as Planck’s constant (a quantity that relates a light particle’s energy to its frequency measured by scientists). This eliminates the aspect of there being a fixed unit determined by a physical object that will inevitably change over time. Because we have redefined the kilogram, all of the SI base units are defined without using a physical object. This means that we can communicate measurements much more precisely and accurately all around the world.
Although the redefinition of SI units does not impact my life directly or indirectly right now, my future could be completely different. The redefinition could help to solve existing problems or allow for new inventions that could dramatically change the way humans live, communicate, and function. As stated in “A Turning Point for Humanity: Redefining the World’s Measurement System” concerning the future and what this redefinition could hold; “It’s difficult to know but it’s a safe bet. Every time humanity has increased the accuracy and precision of measurements, better technologies have resulted” (Materese, 2018). Thus, the fields of medicine, measurement, science, engineering, (to name a few), could be forever changed.
References
Abumrad, Jad, and Robert Krulwich. (WNYC). (2014, June 13). ≤ Kg [Audio Podcast]. Retrieved January 13, 2019, from 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
