enthalpy

Monday, April 25, 2005


A gram is one cubic centimeter of dihydrogen monoxide, at 4ÂșC. What the hell is wrong with these people?
This is because all high-precision scales around the world are traceable to the plum-sized cylinder of metal - "The Kilogram" - at the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM). Other countries bring their standards to Paris to compare - something the U.S. has done three times since the inception of the international standard in 1889.

But in a recent article in the journal Metrologia, Mohr and his co-authors say these trips can be made unnecessary by defining mass in terms of a natural phenomenon.

The kilogram is the only basic unit of the international measurement system still defined by a physical artifact.
The freakin' metric system. Sure it's base 10, but the only thing worse brought to us by the French Revolution was the guillotine.



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