Posted
2/27/2005 01:57:00 PM
by Douglas
Sometimes a hunk of metal is just a hunk of
metal.If several scientists get their way, a 2.2-pound hunk of metal -- the international prototype of the kilogram -- may soon be out of style.
Like its six basic-units-of-measurement siblings before it -- including the meter -- the kilogram may be moving toward a new definition based on a universal constant. The kilogram has long been understood to equal the mass of its prototype.
Work has been underway for about 25 years to switch the kilogram from being defined by a physical model to corresponding instead to a constant. A paper to be released Monday proposes redefining the unit via fixing the values of one of two well-known universal constants.
Are they really that bored? It's not like the Kg was defined as a particular hunk of platinum-iridium. The gram was derived from the meter, which was also pulled out of someone's ass. The gram is the mass of a cubic centimeter of
water at 4ÂșC. That sounds like a universal physical constant to me.