Scientists aiming to redefine the kilogram

TheLocal.de ^ | 27 Mar 2015 17:59 GMT+01:00 | Matty Edwards

[Olog-hai]

The German Nation Metrology Institute (PTB) in Braunschweig has set itself the enormous task of finding a new formula for measuring a kilogram.

The weight is currently based on a metal cylinder called the International Prototype Kilogram that is kept in a safe in Paris.

The problem is that the precious object is—very gradually—losing weight, according to scientists. […]

A race is now underway between scientists around the world to find a way of defining an unchangeable kilogram without relying on a lump of metal, which is unsurprisingly rather complicated.

Researchers at the PTB in Braunschweig claim to be very close to a solution. They are developing the world’s roundest and smoothest sphere. …

[babygene]

The weight of a particular mass involves a number of “forces”. The first would be gravity, probably the most constant however even that could fluctuate due to the moving mantel beneath the earth’s crust as well as altitude of the mass.

The other forces acting on the mass are centrifugal force, which makes a mass weigh less (buy a surprising amount) at the equator than at the north or south pole. Even that can’t adjusted for latitude accurately because of wobble as well as altitude. Speaking of altitude, “sea level” itself is different from the equator to the upper and lower latitudes.

buoyancy is not really a force but it effects the weight as well and of course it continually changes with air pressure.

SO... The way to solve the problem at hand would be to take gravity out of the equation and substitute an electrostatic force field.

Define a kilogram as the potential necessary to produce a kilogram of force on the plates of a parallel plate capacitor of some dimension in a hard vacuum. The dielectric properties of a vacuum would be constant, even removing temperature from the equation. If the plates were vertical, gravity and centrifugal force would be removed as well.

[Yosemitest]

The "Metric System" is one of the most destructive things that has ever happened to the United States.
It's not about "ease of measurement".
It's about power.
Do away with it here in the Unted States.
Refuse to accept it, and use ONLY SAE.
Then jobs might return to the United States.

[OneWingedShark]

This isn't necessarily a bad thing; I've always wanted to weigh less.

But this would make you weigh more [number-wise, in kg] because it would take more kgs to equal your weight.

[Moltke]

Nice scam - sell ~$30/kg tungsten for $200/kg.

[Jack Hydrazine]

It’s all about the shape of the future - the cube!

[az_gila]

“A pint’s a pound, the world around.” There, problem solved.

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Whoever came up with that has obviously never bought a 20 oz pint of beer in England...:^)

[onedoug]

Who is paying for her “son” to attend the Citadel?

Just curious.

[azcap]

Just go to London and use the official pound weight and multiply by .45. Then sell your platinum kilo stick on ebay.

[az_gila]

This affects the US directly too.

Guess what our pound mass is referenced to?

The United States and countries of the Commonwealth of Nations agreed upon common definitions for the pound and the yard. Since 1 July 1959, the international avoirdupois pound has been defined as exactly 0.45359237 kg.

[PoloSec]

The most efficient way to accomplish redefining the kilogram or any other scientific venture is to employ Common Core Math, it will do whatever you want it to do.

[kitchen]

... the Rosie O’Donnell.

We already have a slug. How many slugs per rosie?

[Yo-Yo]

It’s been many years since school but I thought a gram was the weight of 1 cc of H2O at 72°F.

That defines what a cc is. How do you know when you have exactly one gram of water?

[Olog-hai]

The slug is the mass measurement of the evil imperial/“English” system, which is the big competition to the Système Internationale and obviously the preferred one of colonialists. (Approximately 32 pounds on the earth’s surface, BTW.)

[Olog-hai]

That sure is a contradiction of terms. How can you define a force measurement by an alleged amount of mass? because that assumes the acceleration due to gravity to be constant and unvaried.

[Organic Panic]

This has been around a while. A kilo is a certain number of silicon atoms. I lost count after the first billion or so.

[az_gila]

That sure is a contradiction of terms. How can you define a force measurement by an alleged amount of mass? because that assumes the acceleration due to gravity to be constant and unvaried.

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I was just using the wiki link...:^)

[kitchen]

32.2 if you're using your Eugene Dietzgen computer.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks NYer. Sidebar, I just love the "metric system" -- instead of using the circumference of the Earth to figure out the universal measurment based on powers of ten, the dolts used one-quarter of that distance, the (19th c) calculation of the distance from the Equator to the North Pole (both theoretical locations, and the Earth has a below-the-waist "bulge"). Should have stuck with barleycorns.

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[NYer]

I just love the "metric system"

I still recall a movement back in the 60s to switch the US to the metric system. In 1968, Congress authorized the U.S. Metric Study, a three-year study of systems of measurement in the U.S., with emphasis on the feasibility of metrication. The United States Department of Commerce conducted the study. A 45-member advisory panel consulted and took testimony from hundreds of consumers, business organizations, labor groups, manufacturers, and state and local officials. The final report of the study concluded that the U.S. would eventually join the rest of the world in the use of the metric system of measurement.

Up until then, soft drinks like soda, etc. were sold in 1/2 gallon size. It took a while to adjust to the metric sized bottles. It's still odd that soft drinks follow the metric system while milk continues to be sold by the gallon.

[SunkenCiv]

The problem is, people have choices! ;’) If the metric system were required everywhere, and the old system deprecated, racist gun-clinging xenophobes wouldn’t be preventing gay marriage or conducting the war on women, the war on drugs, or the war on undocumented Americans.