In 2019, four of the seven SI base units specified in the International System of Quantities were redefined in terms of natural physical constants, rather than human artefacts such as the standard kilogram. [1] [2] Effective 20 May 2019, the 144th anniversary of the Metre Convention, the kilogram, ampere, kelvin, and mole are now defined by setting exact numerical values, when expressed in SI units, for the Planck constant (h), the elementary electric charge (e), the Boltzmann constant (kB), and the Avogadro constant (NA), respectively. The second, metre, and candela had previously been redefined using physical constants. The four new definitions aimed to improve the SI without changing the value of any units, ensuring continuity with existing measurements. [3] [4] In November 2018, the 26th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) unanimously approved these changes, [5] [6] which the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) had proposed earlier that year after determining that previously agreed conditions for the change had been met. [7] : 23 These conditions were satisfied by a series of experiments that measured the constants to high accuracy relative to the old SI definitions, and were the culmination of decades of research.
The previous major change of the metric system occurred in 1960 when the International System of Units (SI) was formally published. At this time the metre was redefined: the definition was changed from the prototype of the metre to a certain number of wavelengths of a spectral line of a krypton-86 radiation, making it derivable from universal natural phenomena. [Note 1] The kilogram remained defined by a physical prototype, leaving it the only artefact upon which the SI unit definitions depend. At this time the SI, as a coherent system, was constructed around seven base units , powers of which were used to construct all other units. With the 2019 redefinition, the SI is constructed around seven defining constants, allowing all units to be constructed directly from these constants. The designation of base units is retained but is no longer essential to define the SI units. [4]
The metric system was originally conceived as a system of measurement that was derivable from unchanging phenomena, [8] but practical limitations necessitated the use of artefacts – the prototype of the metre and prototype of the kilogram – when the metric system was introduced in France in 1799. Although they were designed for long-term stability, the prototype kilogram and its secondary copies have shown small variations in mass relative to each other over time; they are not thought to be adequate for the increasing accuracy demanded by science, prompting a search for a suitable replacement. The definitions of some units were defined by measurements that are difficult to precisely realise in a laboratory, such as the kelvin, which was defined in terms of the triple point of water. With the 2019 redefinition, the SI became wholly derivable from natural phenomena with most units being based on fundamental physical constants.
A number of authors have published criticisms of the revised definitions; their criticisms include the premise that the proposal failed to address the impact of breaking the link between the definition of the dalton [Note 2] and the definitions of the kilogram, the mole, and the Avogadro constant.
The basic structure of the SI was developed over about 170 years between 1791 and 1960. Since 1960, technological advances have made it possible to address weaknesses in the SI such as the dependence on a physical artefact to define the kilogram.
During the early years of the French Revolution, the leaders of the French National Constituent Assembly decided to introduce a new system of measurement that was based on the principles of logic and natural phenomena. The metre was defined as one ten-millionth of the distance from the north pole to the equator and the kilogram as the mass of one thousandth of a cubic metre of pure water. Although these definitions were chosen to avoid ownership of the units, they could not be measured with sufficient convenience or precision to be of practical use. Instead, realisations were created in the form of the mètre des Archives and kilogramme des Archives , which were a "best attempt" at fulfilling these principles. [9]
By 1875, use of the metric system had become widespread in Europe and in Latin America; that year, twenty industrially developed nations met for the Convention of the Metre, which led to the signing of the Treaty of the Metre, under which three bodies were set up to take custody of the international prototypes of the kilogram and the metre, and to regulate comparisons with national prototypes. [10] [11] They were:
The 1st CGPM (1889) formally approved the use of 40 prototype metres and 40 prototype kilograms made by the British firm Johnson Matthey as the standards mandated by the Convention of the Metre. [13] The prototypes Metre No. 6 and Kilogram KIII were designated as the international prototype of the metre and the kilogram, respectively; the CGPM retained other copies as working copies, and the rest were distributed to member states for use as their national prototypes. About once every 40 years, the national prototypes were compared with and recalibrated against the international prototype. [14]
In 1921 the Convention of the Metre was revised and the mandate of the CGPM was extended to provide standards for all units of measure, not just mass and length. In the ensuing years, the CGPM took on responsibility for providing standards of electrical current (1946), luminosity (1946), temperature (1948), time (1956), and molar mass (1971). [15] The 9th CGPM in 1948 instructed the CIPM "to make recommendations for a single practical system of units of measurement, suitable for adoption by all countries adhering to the Metre Convention". [16] The recommendations based on this mandate were presented to the 11th CGPM (1960), where they were formally accepted and given the name "Système International d'Unités" and its abbreviation "SI". [17]
There is a precedent for changing the underlying principles behind the definition of the SI base units; the 11th CGPM (1960) defined the SI metre in terms of the wavelength of krypton-86 radiation, replacing the pre-SI metre bar, and the 13th CGPM (1967) replaced the original definition of the second, which was based on Earth's average rotation from 1750 to 1892, [18] with a definition based on the frequency of the radiation emitted or absorbed with a transition between two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom. The 17th CGPM (1983) replaced the 1960 definition of the metre with one based on the second by giving an exact definition of the speed of light in units of metres per second. [19]
Since their manufacture, drifts of up to 2×10−8 kilograms (20 μg) per year in the national prototype kilograms relative to the international prototype of the kilogram (IPK) have been detected. There was no way of determining whether the national prototypes were gaining mass or whether the IPK was losing mass. [21] Newcastle University metrologist Peter Cumpson has since identified mercury vapour absorption or carbonaceous contamination as possible causes of this drift. [22] [23] At the 21st meeting of the CGPM (1999), national laboratories were urged to investigate ways of breaking the link between the kilogram and a specific artefact.
Metrologists investigated several alternative approaches to redefining the kilogram based on fundamental physical constants. Among others, the Avogadro project and the development of the Kibble balance (known as the "watt balance" before 2016) promised methods of indirectly measuring mass with very high precision. These projects provided tools that enable alternative means of redefining the kilogram. [24]
A report published in 2007 by the Consultative Committee for Thermometry (CCT) to the CIPM noted that their current definition of temperature has proved to be unsatisfactory for temperatures below 20 K and for temperatures above 1300 K. The committee took the view that the Boltzmann constant provided a better basis for temperature measurement than did the triple point of water because it overcame these difficulties. [25]
At its 23rd meeting (2007), the CGPM mandated the CIPM to investigate the use of natural constants as the basis for all units of measure rather than the artefacts that were then in use. The following year this was endorsed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP). [26] At a meeting of the CCU held in Reading, United Kingdom, in September 2010, a resolution [27] and draft changes to the SI brochure that were to be presented to the next meeting of the CIPM in October 2010 were agreed to in principle. [28] The CIPM meeting of October 2010 found "the conditions set by the General Conference at its 23rd meeting have not yet been fully met. [Note 4] For this reason the CIPM does not propose a revision of the SI at the present time". [30] The CIPM, however, presented a resolution for consideration at the 24th CGPM (17–21 October 2011) to agree to the new definitions in principle, but not to implement them until the details had been finalised. [31] This resolution was accepted by the conference, [32] and in addition the CGPM moved the date of the 25th meeting forward from 2015 to 2014. [33] [34] At the 25th meeting on 18 to 20 November 2014, it was found that "despite [progress in the necessary requirements] the data do not yet appear to be sufficiently robust for the CGPM to adopt the revised SI at its 25th meeting", [35] thus postponing the revision to the next meeting in 2018. Measurements accurate enough to meet the conditions were available in 2017 and the redefinition [36] was adopted at the 26th CGPM (13–16 November 2018).
Following the successful 1983 redefinition of the metre in terms of an exact numerical value for the speed of light, the BIPM's Consultative Committee for Units (CCU) recommended and the BIPM proposed that four further constants of nature should be defined to have exact values. These are: [Note 5]
The redefinition retains unchanged the numerical values associated with the following constants of nature:
The seven SI defining constants above, expressed in terms of derived units (joule, coulomb, hertz, lumen, and watt), are rewritten below in terms of the seven base units (second, metre, kilogram, ampere, kelvin, mole, and candela); [4] the dimensionless unit steradian (symbol sr) is also used:
As part of the redefinition, the International Prototype of the Kilogram was retired and definitions of the kilogram, the ampere, and the kelvin were replaced. The definition of the mole was revised. These changes have the effect of redefining the SI base units, though the definitions of the SI derived units in terms of the base units remain the same.
Following the CCU proposal, the texts of the definitions of all of the base units were either refined or rewritten, changing the emphasis from explicit-unit- to explicit-constant-type definitions. [38] Explicit-unit-type definitions define a unit in terms of a specific example of that unit; for example, in 1324 Edward II defined the inch as being the length of three barleycorns, [39] and from 1889 to 2019 the kilogram was defined as the mass of the International Prototype of the Kilogram. In explicit-constant definitions, a constant of nature is given a specified value, and the definition of the unit emerges as a consequence; for example, in 2019, the speed of light was defined as exactly 299792458 metres per second. The length of the metre could be derived because the second had been already independently defined. The previous [19] and 2019 [4] [37] definitions are given below.
The new definition of the second is effectively the same as the previous one, the only difference being that the conditions under which the definition applies are more rigorously defined.
The second may be expressed directly in terms of the defining constants:
The new definition of the metre is effectively the same as the previous one, the only difference being that the additional rigour in the definition of the second propagated to the metre.
The metre may be expressed directly in terms of the defining constants:
The definition of the kilogram fundamentally changed from an artefact (the International Prototype of the Kilogram) to a constant of nature. [41] Because the Planck constant relates photon energy to photon frequency, the new definition relates the kilogram to the mass equivalent of the energy of a photon at a specific frequency.
For illustration, an earlier proposed redefinition that is equivalent to this 2019 definition is: "The kilogram is the mass of a body at rest whose equivalent energy equals the energy of a collection of photons whose frequencies sum to [1.356392489652×1050] hertz." [42]
The kilogram may be expressed directly in terms of the defining constants:
Leading to
The definition of the ampere underwent a major revision. The previous definition relied on infinite lengths that are impossible to realise: [43]
The alternative avoided that issue:
The ampere may be expressed directly in terms of the defining constants as:
For illustration, this is equivalent to defining one coulomb to be an exact specified multiple of the elementary charge.
Because the previous definition contains a reference to force, which has the dimensions MLT−2, it follows that in the previous SI the kilogram, metre, and second – the base units representing these dimensions – had to be defined before the ampere could be defined. Other consequences of the previous definition were that in SI the value of vacuum permeability (μ0) was fixed at exactly 4π×10−7 H⋅m-1. [44]
A consequence of the revised definition is that the ampere no longer depends on the definitions of the kilogram and the metre; it does, however, still depend on the definition of the second. In addition, the numerical values when expressed in SI units of the vacuum permeability, vacuum permittivity, and impedance of free space, which were exact before the redefinition, are subject to experimental error after the redefinition. [45] For example, the numerical value of the vacuum permeability has a relative uncertainty equal to that of the experimental value of the fine-structure constant . [46] The CODATA 2018 value for the relative standard uncertainty of is 1.6×10−10. [47] [Note 7]
The ampere definition leads to exact values for
The definition of the kelvin underwent a fundamental change. Rather than using the triple point of water to fix the temperature scale, the new definition uses the energy equivalent as given by Boltzmann's equation.
The kelvin may be expressed directly in terms of the defining constants as:
The previous definition of the mole linked it to the kilogram. The revised definition breaks that link by making a mole a specific number of entities of the substance in question.
The mole may be expressed directly in terms of the defining constants as:
One consequence of this change is that the previously defined relationship between the mass of the 12C atom, the dalton, the kilogram, and the Avogadro constant is no longer exact. One of the following had to change:
The wording of the 9th SI Brochure [4] [Note 8] implies that the first statement remains valid, which means the second is no longer exactly true. The molar mass constant, while still with great accuracy remaining 1 g/mol, is no longer exactly equal to that. Appendix 2 to the 9th SI Brochure states that "the molar mass of carbon 12, M(12C), is equal to 0.012 kg⋅mol−1 within a relative standard uncertainty equal to that of the recommended value of NAh at the time this Resolution was adopted, namely 4.5×10−10, and that in the future its value will be determined experimentally", [49] [50] which makes no reference to the dalton and is consistent with either statement.
The new definition of the candela is effectively the same as the previous definition as dependent on other base units, with the result that the redefinition of the kilogram and the additional rigour in the definitions of the second and metre propagate to the candela.
The candela may be expressed directly in terms of the defining constants as:
All seven of the SI base units are defined in terms of defined constants [Note 9] and universal physical constants. [Note 10] [51] Seven constants are needed to define the seven base units but there is not a direct correspondence between each specific base unit and a specific constant; except the second and the mole, more than one of the seven constants contributes to the definition of any given base unit.
When the New SI was first designed, there were more than six suitable physical constants from which the designers could choose. For example, once length and time had been established, the universal gravitational constant G could, from a dimensional point of view, be used to define mass. [Note 11] In practice, G can only be measured with a relative uncertainty of the order of 10−5, [Note 12] which would have resulted in the upper limit of the kilogram's reproducibility being around 10−5 whereas the then-current international prototype of the kilogram can be measured with a reproducibility of 1.2 × 10−8. [45] The physical constants were chosen on the basis of minimal uncertainty associated with measuring the constant and the degree of independence of the constant in respect of other constants that were being used. Although the BIPM has developed a standard mise en pratique (practical technique) [52] for each type of measurement, the mise en pratique used to make the measurement is not part of the measurement's definition – it is merely an assurance that the measurement can be done without exceeding the specified maximum uncertainty.
Much of the work done by the CIPM is delegated to consultative committees. The CIPM Consultative Committee for Units (CCU) has made the proposed changes while other committees have examined the proposal in detail and have made recommendations regarding their acceptance by the CGPM in 2014. The consultative committees have laid down a number of criteria that must be met before they will support the CCU's proposal, including:
As of March 2011, the International Avogadro Coordination (IAC) group had obtained an uncertainty of 3.0×10−8 and NIST had obtained an uncertainty of 3.6×10−8 in their measurements. [24] On 1 September 2012 the European Association of National Metrology Institutes (EURAMET) launched a formal project to reduce the relative difference between the Kibble balance and the silicon sphere approach to measuring the kilogram from (17±5)×10−8 to within 2×10−8. [56] As of March 2013 [update] the proposed redefinition is known as the "New SI" [3] but Mohr, in a paper following the CGPM proposal but predating the formal CCU proposal, suggested that because the proposed system makes use of atomic scale phenomena rather than macroscopic phenomena, it should be called the "Quantum SI System". [57]
As of the 2014 CODATA-recommended values of the fundamental physical constants published in 2016 using data collected until the end of 2014, all measurements met the CGPM's requirements, and the redefinition and the next CGPM quadrennial meeting in late 2018 could now proceed. [58] [59]
On 20 October 2017, the 106th meeting of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) formally accepted a revised Draft Resolution A, calling for the redefinition of the SI, to be voted on at the 26th CGPM, [7] : 17–23 The same day, in response to the CIPM's endorsement of the final values, [7] : 22 the CODATA Task Group on Fundamental Constants published its 2017 recommended values for the four constants with uncertainties and proposed numerical values for the redefinition without uncertainty. [37] The vote, which was held on 16 November 2018 at the 26th GCPM, was unanimous; all attending national representatives voted in favour of the revised proposal.
The new definitions became effective on 20 May 2019. [60]
In 2010, Marcus Foster of the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) published a wide-ranging critique of the SI; he raised numerous issues ranging from basic issues such as the absence of the symbol "Ω" (omega, used for the ohm) from most Western computer keyboards to abstract issues such as inadequate formalism in the metrological concepts on which SI is based. The changes proposed in the new SI only addressed problems with the definition of the base units, including new definitions of the candela and the mole – units Foster argued are not true base units. Other issues raised by Foster fell outside the scope of the proposal. [61]
Concerns have been expressed that the use of explicit-constant definitions of the unit being defined that are not related to an example of its quantity will have many adverse effects. [62] Although this criticism applies to the linking of the kilogram to the Planck constant h via a route that requires a knowledge of both special relativity and quantum mechanics, [63] it does not apply to the definition of the ampere, which is closer to an example of its quantity than is the previous definition. [64] Some observers have welcomed the change to base the definition of electric current on the charge of the electron rather than the previous definition of a force between two parallel, current-carrying wires; because the nature of the electromagnetic interaction between two bodies is somewhat different at the quantum electrodynamics level than at classical electrodynamic levels, it is considered inappropriate to use classical electrodynamics to define quantities that exist at quantum electrodynamic levels. [45]
When the scale of the divergence between the IPK and national kilogram prototypes was reported in 2005, a debate began about whether the kilogram should be defined in terms of the mass of the silicon-28 atom or by using the Kibble balance. The mass of a silicon atom could be determined using the Avogadro project and using the Avogadro constant, it could be linked directly to the kilogram. [65] Concerns that the authors of the proposal had failed to address the impact of breaking the link between the mole, kilogram, dalton, and the Avogadro constant (NA) have also been expressed. [Note 13] This direct link has caused many to argue that the mole is not a true physical unit but, according to the Swedish philosopher Johansson, a "scaling factor". [61] [66]
The 8th edition of the SI Brochure defined the dalton in terms of the mass of an atom of 12C. [67] It defined the Avogadro constant in terms of this mass and the kilogram, making it determined by experiment. The redefinition fixes the Avogadro constant and the 9th SI Brochure [4] retains the definition of dalton in terms of 12C, with the effect that the link between the dalton and the kilogram will be broken. [68] [69]
In 1993, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) approved the use of the dalton as an alternative to the unified atomic mass unit with the qualification that the CGPM had not given its approval. [70] This approval has since been given. [71] Following the proposal to redefine the mole by fixing the value of the Avogadro constant, Brian Leonard of the University of Akron, writing in Metrologia , proposed that the dalton (Da) be redefined such that NA = (g/Da) mol−1, but that the unified atomic mass unit (mu) retain its current definition based on the mass of 12C, ceasing to exactly equal the dalton. This would result in the dalton and the atomic mass unit potentially differing from each other with a relative uncertainty of the order of 10−10. [72] The 9th SI Brochure, however, defines both the dalton (Da) and the unified atomic mass unit (u) as exactly 1/12 of the mass of a free carbon-12 atom and not in relation to the kilogram, [4] with the effect that the above equation will be inexact.
Different temperature ranges need different measurement methods. Room temperature can be measured by means of expansion and contraction of a liquid in a thermometer but high temperatures are often associated with colour of blackbody radiation. Wojciech T. Chyla, approaching the structure of SI from a philosophical point of view in the Journal of the Polish Physical Society, argued that temperature is not a real base unit but is an average of the thermal energies of the individual particles that comprise the body concerned. [45] He noted that in many theoretical papers, temperature is represented by the quantities Θ or β where
and k is the Boltzmann constant. Chyla acknowledged, however, that in the macroscopic world, temperature plays the role of a base unit because much of the theory of thermodynamics is based on temperature. [45]
The Consultative Committee for Thermometry, part of the International Committee for Weights and Measures, publishes a mise en pratique (practical technique), last updated in 1990, for measuring temperature. At very low and at very high temperatures it often links energy to temperature via the Boltzmann constant. [73] [74]
Foster argued that "luminous intensity [the candela] is not a physical quantity, but a photobiological quantity that exists in human perception", questioning whether the candela should be a base unit. [61] Before the 1979 decision to define photometric units in terms of luminous flux (power) rather than luminous intensities of standard light sources, there was already doubt whether there should still be a separate base unit for photometry. Furthermore, there was unanimous agreement that the lumen was now more fundamental than the candela. However, for the sake of continuity the candela was kept as base unit. [75]
The ampere, often shortened to amp, is the unit of electric current in the International System of Units (SI). One ampere is equal to 1 coulomb (C) moving past a point per second. It is named after French mathematician and physicist André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836), considered the father of electromagnetism along with Danish physicist Hans Christian Ørsted.
The International Bureau of Weights and Measures is an intergovernmental organisation, through which its 59 member-states act on measurement standards in areas including chemistry, ionising radiation, physical metrology, as well as the International System of Units (SI) and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). It is based in Saint-Cloud, near Paris, France. The organisation has been referred to as IBWM in older literature.
The kilogram is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI), having the unit symbol kg. 'Kilogram' means 'one thousand grams' and is colloquially abbreviated to kilo.
The Metre Convention, also known as the Treaty of the Metre, is an international treaty that was signed in Paris on 20 May 1875 by representatives of 17 nations: Argentina, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Norway, Switzerland, Ottoman Empire, United States of America, and Venezuela.
The International System of Units, internationally known by the abbreviation SI, is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. Coordinated by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures it is the only system of measurement with official status in nearly every country in the world, employed in science, technology, industry, and everyday commerce.
The SI base units are the standard units of measurement defined by the International System of Units (SI) for the seven base quantities of what is now known as the International System of Quantities: they are notably a basic set from which all other SI units can be derived. The units and their physical quantities are the second for time, the metre for length or distance, the kilogram for mass, the ampere for electric current, the kelvin for thermodynamic temperature, the mole for amount of substance, and the candela for luminous intensity. The SI base units are a fundamental part of modern metrology, and thus part of the foundation of modern science and technology.
The mole (symbol mol) is a unit of measurement, the base unit in the International System of Units (SI) for amount of substance, a quantity proportional to the number of elementary entities of a substance. One mole contains exactly 6.02214076×1023 elementary entities (approximately 602 sextillion or 602 billion times a trillion), which can be atoms, molecules, ions, ion pairs, or other particles. The number of particles in a mole is the Avogadro number (symbol N0) and the numerical value of the Avogadro constant (symbol NA) expressed in mol-1. The value was chosen on the basis of the historical definition of the mole as the amount of substance that corresponds to the number of atoms in 12 grams of 12C, which made the mass of a mole of a compound expressed in grams, numerically equal to the average molecular mass or formula mass of the compound expressed in daltons. With the 2019 revision of the SI, the numerical equivalence is now only approximate but may be assumed for all practical purposes.
The caesium standard is a primary frequency standard in which the photon absorption by transitions between the two hyperfine ground states of caesium-133 atoms is used to control the output frequency. The first caesium clock was built by Louis Essen in 1955 at the National Physical Laboratory in the UK and promoted worldwide by Gernot M. R. Winkler of the United States Naval Observatory.
The Avogadro constant, commonly denoted NA or L, is an SI defining constant with an exact value of 6.02214076×1023 mol−1 (reciprocal moles). It is this defined number of constituent particles (usually molecules, atoms, ions, or ion pairs—in general, entities) per mole (SI unit) and used as a normalization factor in relating the amount of substance, n(X), in a sample of a substance X to the corresponding number of entities, N(X): n(X) = N(X)(1/NA), an aggregate of N(X) reciprocal Avogadro constants. By setting N(X) = 1, a reciprocal Avogadro constant is seen to be equal to one entity, which means that n(X) is more easily interpreted as an aggregate of N(X) entities. In the SI dimensional analysis of measurement units, the dimension of the Avogadro constant is the reciprocal of amount of substance, denoted N−1. The Avogadro number, sometimes denoted N0, is the numeric value of the Avogadro constant (i.e., without a unit), namely the dimensionless number 6.02214076×1023; the value chosen based on the number of atoms in 12 grams of carbon-12 in alignment with the historical definition of a mole. The constant is named after the Italian physicist and chemist Amedeo Avogadro (1776–1856).
The dalton or unified atomic mass unit is a unit of mass defined as 1/12 of the mass of an unbound neutral atom of carbon-12 in its nuclear and electronic ground state and at rest. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. The atomic mass constant, denoted mu, is defined identically, giving mu = 1/12m(12C) = 1 Da.
The metric system is a decimal-based system of measurement. The current international standard for the metric system is the International System of Units, in which all units can be expressed in terms of seven base units: the metre (m), kilogram (kg), second (s), ampere (A), kelvin (K), mole (mol), and candela (cd). These can be made into larger or smaller units with the use of metric prefixes.
A base unit of measurement is a unit of measurement adopted for a base quantity. A base quantity is one of a conventionally chosen subset of physical quantities, where no quantity in the subset can be expressed in terms of the others. The SI base units, or Systéme International d'unités, consists of the metre, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, mole and candela.
Metrology is the scientific study of measurement. It establishes a common understanding of units, crucial in linking human activities. Modern metrology has its roots in the French Revolution's political motivation to standardise units in France when a length standard taken from a natural source was proposed. This led to the creation of the decimal-based metric system in 1795, establishing a set of standards for other types of measurements. Several other countries adopted the metric system between 1795 and 1875; to ensure conformity between the countries, the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) was established by the Metre Convention. This has evolved into the International System of Units (SI) as a result of a resolution at the 11th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) in 1960.
The CSIR- National Physical Laboratory of India, situated in New Delhi, is the measurement standards laboratory of India. It maintains standards of SI units in India and calibrates the national standards of weights and measures.
A conventional electrical unit is a unit of measurement in the field of electricity which is based on the so-called "conventional values" of the Josephson constant, the von Klitzing constant agreed by the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) in 1988, as well as ΔνCs used to define the second. These units are very similar in scale to their corresponding SI units, but are not identical because of the different values used for the constants. They are distinguished from the corresponding SI units by setting the symbol in italic typeface and adding a subscript "90" – e.g., the conventional volt has the symbol V90 – as they came into international use on 1 January 1990.
The kelvin is the base unit for temperature in the International System of Units (SI). The Kelvin scale is an absolute temperature scale that starts at the lowest possible temperature, taken to be 0 K. By definition, the Celsius scale and the Kelvin scale have the exact same magnitude; that is, a rise of 1 K is equal to a rise of 1 °C and vice versa, and any temperature in degrees Celsius can be converted to kelvin by adding 273.15.
The International Prototype of the Kilogram is an object whose mass was used to define the kilogram from 1889, when it replaced the Kilogramme des Archives, until 2019, when it was replaced by a new definition of the kilogram based entirely on physical constants. During that time, the IPK and its duplicates were used to calibrate all other kilogram mass standards on Earth.
The history of the metric system began during the Age of Enlightenment with measures of length and weight derived from nature, along with their decimal multiples and fractions. The system became the standard of France and Europe within half a century. Other measures with unity ratios were added, and the system went on to be adopted across the world.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the metric system:
The scientific community examined several approaches to redefining the kilogram before deciding on a revision of the SI in November 2018. Each approach had advantages and disadvantages.
is a set of instructions that allows the definition to be realised in practice at the highest level.
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ignored (help)This is a truly major development, because these uncertainties are now sufficiently small that the adoption of the new SI by the 26th CGPM is expected.