Lurain
Lily Bowman
E Band
1/14/19
Redifining the World's Measurement System
In 1875, following the French Revolution, people set out to create a system of measurement available”for all times, for all people.” They wanted goods and ideas exchanged everywhere and by everyone, using an eternal and unchanging system. They based the units on nature itself: the kilogram was the mass of one liter of water, and the meter was defined as one ten-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the equator. Those units had to be represented using physical objects, such as the meter bar and a cylinder of metal that embodies the kilogram. These objects, however, could degrade over time and were definitely not available for all times and for all people.
In November of 2018, a group of 60 countries joined together to revise the International System of Units (SI). They approved a system that does not depend on physical objects, and is rather based entirely on constants of physical science such as the speed of light. In doing so, they created a measurement system truly available for everyone.
Most of the units in the International System of Units (SI) are already defined according to universal constants, but the kilogram, the last remaining unit defined by an artifact, has stubbornly resisted redefinining until now. By changing the definition of the kilogram, previously based on the artifact “Le Grand K,” precision measurement is more readily available to everyone. It makes it possible to do more precise and accurate measurements without calibrating to some object hidden away in a vault. Hypothetically, with this system, we would be able to “communicate the base units to residents of other planets in other galaxies, who could use them with the same accuracy as we do.”
This change to the measurement system will not be noticeable on a day-to-day scale. A kilogram will still be a kilogram on the grocery scale. Thus a kilogram of coffee contains no more or less coffee under the new definition than under the old one. It will mostly affect scientific instrument manufacturers, who may have to modify their tools to better accommodate the revised SI method.
The redefined SI also improves scalability for measurements. Accuracy decreases at sizes much larger or smaller than the standard when using a physical object to measure something. With the new definition of the kilogram, these milligram and microgram masses can be measured with much more precision. In fact, if implemented as expected, all measures of mass could be equally accurate and precise if measured with the same technology.
Better technology and greater advancements result from more precise and accurate measurements. “We need only to make the change and watch while the innovation unfolds.”
Works Cited
Materese, R. (2018, December 06). A Turning Point for Humanity: Redefining the World's Measurement System. Retrieved January 11, 2019, from https://www.nist.gov/si-redefinition/turning-point-humanity-redefining-worlds-measurement-system
Lily Bowman
E Band
1/14/19
Redifining the World's Measurement System
In 1875, following the French Revolution, people set out to create a system of measurement available”for all times, for all people.” They wanted goods and ideas exchanged everywhere and by everyone, using an eternal and unchanging system. They based the units on nature itself: the kilogram was the mass of one liter of water, and the meter was defined as one ten-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the equator. Those units had to be represented using physical objects, such as the meter bar and a cylinder of metal that embodies the kilogram. These objects, however, could degrade over time and were definitely not available for all times and for all people.
In November of 2018, a group of 60 countries joined together to revise the International System of Units (SI). They approved a system that does not depend on physical objects, and is rather based entirely on constants of physical science such as the speed of light. In doing so, they created a measurement system truly available for everyone.
Most of the units in the International System of Units (SI) are already defined according to universal constants, but the kilogram, the last remaining unit defined by an artifact, has stubbornly resisted redefinining until now. By changing the definition of the kilogram, previously based on the artifact “Le Grand K,” precision measurement is more readily available to everyone. It makes it possible to do more precise and accurate measurements without calibrating to some object hidden away in a vault. Hypothetically, with this system, we would be able to “communicate the base units to residents of other planets in other galaxies, who could use them with the same accuracy as we do.”
This change to the measurement system will not be noticeable on a day-to-day scale. A kilogram will still be a kilogram on the grocery scale. Thus a kilogram of coffee contains no more or less coffee under the new definition than under the old one. It will mostly affect scientific instrument manufacturers, who may have to modify their tools to better accommodate the revised SI method.
The redefined SI also improves scalability for measurements. Accuracy decreases at sizes much larger or smaller than the standard when using a physical object to measure something. With the new definition of the kilogram, these milligram and microgram masses can be measured with much more precision. In fact, if implemented as expected, all measures of mass could be equally accurate and precise if measured with the same technology.
Better technology and greater advancements result from more precise and accurate measurements. “We need only to make the change and watch while the innovation unfolds.”
Works Cited
Materese, R. (2018, December 06). A Turning Point for Humanity: Redefining the World's Measurement System. Retrieved January 11, 2019, from https://www.nist.gov/si-redefinition/turning-point-humanity-redefining-worlds-measurement-system
