Q Rael
January 13, 2019
Unification : The New Kilogram
At the end of the French Revolution, with the monarchy defeated and the new republic in power, the kilogram was born from the idea of global agreement. Using one type of unit, the entire globe should be able to communicate with one another about such a fundamental aspect of our world. The sole purpose of the kilogram was to understand one another clearly, but the way that it was defined at its creation has some issues.
For the longest time, the kilogram had been defined as the weight of an special little object. This object, called “Le Grande K” was so special, that it was under the most careful protection in the most secret of places in the most delicate and precise conditions to ensure this royal object’s safety. Everyone in the world relied on this single object to define their unit, even though its prone to change. The reason that it’s under such protection in the first place was to make sure it never changed, but even that intense level of security was not enable to prevent it from losing mass ever so slightly. We needed a solution: something constant and clear and not reliable on insanely anal security. Recently, the definition of the kilogram was changed. Now, a kilogram is the weight equal to an extremely specific electromagnetic force. At this period in time, the kilogram joins all other measurements with definitions based on natural constants. The meter is defined by a specific fraction of a light second. The second is defined by the amount of time it takes a certain particle to oscillate.
The Grande K was fragile. There is no real way to reconstruct it if it were destroyed. But now that we use these concrete constants, there is no need for our entire world to rely on such an arbitrary cylinder. We no longer restrict ourselves by sticking to arbitrary and meaningless definitions, but recognize the stability and strength of the world around us and embrace it.
The most important thing about this force is that it can be replicated by any person around the world. With this truth, the goal of the creation of kilogram is now finally realized. It is only now that we can truly communicate completely with one another using the language of constants. At its creation, the kilogram was intended to unite the globe, and now, it finally can. The kilogram is no longer European. It is no longer French. It is no longer confined, kept away from the rest of the world. It’s as if the kilogram has finally been released and distributed across the globe. Because of its accessibility, the kilogram finally belongs to everyone, just as it was intended to be. Symbolically, the completion of naturalizing the standard base units is representative of global unification. There is no city, country, continent, or even planet that is not capable of sharing this knowledge.
For most of the people on earth, everything will basically stay the same. You’ll still weigh the same, you’ll still get the same amount of Arizona for 99 cents. That isn’t the point. The point of changing the kilogram was not to change things, but to keep them the same. The point of changing the base kilogram was to keep things consistent. By not relying on some random thing, the new definition of the kilogram has made our understanding of our own world more clear. Measurements themselves are completely arbitrary; they are only the method in which we describe the qualities of things that we observe around us. Units only matter because we agree to prescribe meaning to them. But if the units that we follow are constantly changing, this system of agreement and communication all falls apart. We changed the kilogram to be consistent with ourselves. With this new definition comes precision, clarity, and stability.
We did not change the kilogram to change the present. We changed it in order to secure the future. From this point on, we have set in stone the fundamental ways to communicate the world around us. There is no changing the standard base units now, and through this solidification of the kilogram, we can now ensure that the future of the world has a stable foundation to communicate about the observable universe.
Works Cited
French Revolution. (2018, December 29). Retrieved January 13, 2019, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution
Ghosh, P. (2018, November 16). Kilogram gets a new definition. Retrieved January 13,
2019, from https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46143399
Grave (unit). (2018, December 31). Retrieved January 13, 2019, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_(unit)
Materese, R. (2018, December 06). A Turning Point for Humanity: Redefining the
World's Measurement System. Retrieved January 13, 2019, from
https://www.nist.gov/si-redefinition/turning-point-humanity-redefining-worlds-m
easurement-system
Veritasium. (2017, July 12). How We're Redefining the kg. Retrieved January 13, 2019,
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo0jm1PPRuo
January 13, 2019
Unification : The New Kilogram
At the end of the French Revolution, with the monarchy defeated and the new republic in power, the kilogram was born from the idea of global agreement. Using one type of unit, the entire globe should be able to communicate with one another about such a fundamental aspect of our world. The sole purpose of the kilogram was to understand one another clearly, but the way that it was defined at its creation has some issues.
For the longest time, the kilogram had been defined as the weight of an special little object. This object, called “Le Grande K” was so special, that it was under the most careful protection in the most secret of places in the most delicate and precise conditions to ensure this royal object’s safety. Everyone in the world relied on this single object to define their unit, even though its prone to change. The reason that it’s under such protection in the first place was to make sure it never changed, but even that intense level of security was not enable to prevent it from losing mass ever so slightly. We needed a solution: something constant and clear and not reliable on insanely anal security. Recently, the definition of the kilogram was changed. Now, a kilogram is the weight equal to an extremely specific electromagnetic force. At this period in time, the kilogram joins all other measurements with definitions based on natural constants. The meter is defined by a specific fraction of a light second. The second is defined by the amount of time it takes a certain particle to oscillate.
The Grande K was fragile. There is no real way to reconstruct it if it were destroyed. But now that we use these concrete constants, there is no need for our entire world to rely on such an arbitrary cylinder. We no longer restrict ourselves by sticking to arbitrary and meaningless definitions, but recognize the stability and strength of the world around us and embrace it.
The most important thing about this force is that it can be replicated by any person around the world. With this truth, the goal of the creation of kilogram is now finally realized. It is only now that we can truly communicate completely with one another using the language of constants. At its creation, the kilogram was intended to unite the globe, and now, it finally can. The kilogram is no longer European. It is no longer French. It is no longer confined, kept away from the rest of the world. It’s as if the kilogram has finally been released and distributed across the globe. Because of its accessibility, the kilogram finally belongs to everyone, just as it was intended to be. Symbolically, the completion of naturalizing the standard base units is representative of global unification. There is no city, country, continent, or even planet that is not capable of sharing this knowledge.
For most of the people on earth, everything will basically stay the same. You’ll still weigh the same, you’ll still get the same amount of Arizona for 99 cents. That isn’t the point. The point of changing the kilogram was not to change things, but to keep them the same. The point of changing the base kilogram was to keep things consistent. By not relying on some random thing, the new definition of the kilogram has made our understanding of our own world more clear. Measurements themselves are completely arbitrary; they are only the method in which we describe the qualities of things that we observe around us. Units only matter because we agree to prescribe meaning to them. But if the units that we follow are constantly changing, this system of agreement and communication all falls apart. We changed the kilogram to be consistent with ourselves. With this new definition comes precision, clarity, and stability.
We did not change the kilogram to change the present. We changed it in order to secure the future. From this point on, we have set in stone the fundamental ways to communicate the world around us. There is no changing the standard base units now, and through this solidification of the kilogram, we can now ensure that the future of the world has a stable foundation to communicate about the observable universe.
Works Cited
French Revolution. (2018, December 29). Retrieved January 13, 2019, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution
Ghosh, P. (2018, November 16). Kilogram gets a new definition. Retrieved January 13,
2019, from https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46143399
Grave (unit). (2018, December 31). Retrieved January 13, 2019, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_(unit)
Materese, R. (2018, December 06). A Turning Point for Humanity: Redefining the
World's Measurement System. Retrieved January 13, 2019, from
https://www.nist.gov/si-redefinition/turning-point-humanity-redefining-worlds-m
easurement-system
Veritasium. (2017, July 12). How We're Redefining the kg. Retrieved January 13, 2019,
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo0jm1PPRuo
