The Unified Code for Units of Measure is a system of codes for unambiguously representing measurement units. Its primary purpose is machine-to-machine communication rather than communication between humans.
Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is any quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement, the unit of length is a base unit, from which other units are derived.
The second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), commonly understood and historically defined as 1⁄86400 of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each. Analog clocks and watches often have sixty tick marks on their faces, representing seconds, and a "second hand" to mark the passage of time in seconds. Digital clocks and watches often have a two-digit seconds counter. The second is also part of several other units of measurement like meters per second for velocity, meters per second per second for acceleration, and per second for frequency.
The UCUM base units form a set of mutually independent dimensions as required by dimensional analysis commonly employed in science and technology.
In engineering and science, dimensional analysis is the analysis of the relationships between different physical quantities by identifying their base quantities and units of measure and tracking these dimensions as calculations or comparisons are performed. The conversion of units from one dimensional unit to another is often somewhat complex. Dimensional analysis, or more specifically the factor-label method, also known as the unit-factor method, is a widely used technique for such conversions using the rules of algebra.
The names and symbols of UCUM base units are written in lowercase, except the symbols of those named after a person, which are written with an initial capital letter. For example, the metre (US English: meter) has the symbol m, but the kelvin has symbol K, because it is named after Lord Kelvin and the coulomb with symbol C is named after Charles-Augustin de Coulomb.
The Kelvin scale is an absolute thermodynamic temperature scale using as its null point absolute zero, the temperature at which all thermal motion ceases in the classical description of thermodynamics. The kelvin is the base unit of temperature in the International System of Units (SI).
William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, was a Scots-Irish mathematical physicist and engineer who was born in Belfast in 1824. At the University of Glasgow he did important work in the mathematical analysis of electricity and formulation of the first and second laws of thermodynamics, and did much to unify the emerging discipline of physics in its modern form. He worked closely with mathematics professor Hugh Blackburn in his work. He also had a career as an electric telegraph engineer and inventor, which propelled him into the public eye and ensured his wealth, fame and honour. For his work on the transatlantic telegraph project he was knighted in 1866 by Queen Victoria, becoming Sir William Thomson. He had extensive maritime interests and was most noted for his work on the mariner's compass, which previously had limited reliability.
The coulomb is the International System of Units (SI) unit of electric charge. It is the charge transported by a constant current of one ampere in one second:
Several other units, such as the litre (US English: liter), are formally not part of the UCUM, but are accepted for use with UCUM. Some of the base units in the UCUM are different from the SI base units. The UCUM is compatible, but not isomorphic with the SI. There are four changes in the UCUM from the SI. Instead of the kilogram, the gram is the unit of mass since a base unit cannot have a prefix and a meaningful unit is required before it is modified by a prefix. This first change has no effect on the system. Instead of electric current, charge is a base quantity for electreomagnetic phenomena since the elementary charge of electrons defines electric phenomena including electric current. Since the mole can be defined in terms of Avogadro's number, the mole is dimensionsless in the UCUM. The radian is a distinct base unit for the plane angle to distinguish angular velocity from rotational frequency and to distinguish the radian from the steradian for a solid angle. Because of the last two changes, the UCUM is not isomorphic with the SI.
The litre or liter is an SI accepted metric system unit of volume equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1,000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 1/1,000 cubic metre. A cubic decimetre occupies a volume of 10 cm×10 cm×10 cm and is thus equal to one-thousandth of a cubic metre.
The International System of Units defines seven units of measure as a basic set from which all other SI units can be derived. The SI base units and their physical quantities are the metre for measurement of length, the kilogram for mass, the second for time, the ampere for electric current, the kelvin for temperature, the candela for luminous intensity, and the mole for amount of substance.
The kilogram or kilogramme is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI). Until 20 May 2019, it remains defined by a platinum alloy cylinder, the International Prototype Kilogram, manufactured in 1889, and carefully stored in Saint-Cloud, a suburb of Paris. After 20 May, it will be defined in terms of fundamental physical constants.
A metric prefix is a unit prefix that precedes a basic unit of measure to indicate a multiple or fraction of the unit. While all metric prefixes in common use today are decadic, historically there have been a number of binary metric prefixes as well. Each prefix has a unique symbol that is prepended to the unit symbol. The prefix kilo-, for example, may be added to gram to indicate multiplication by one thousand: one kilogram is equal to one thousand grams. The prefix milli-, likewise, may be added to metre to indicate division by one thousand; one millimetre is equal to one thousandth of a metre.
A physical constant, sometimes fundamental physical constant or universal constant, is a physical quantity that is generally believed to be both universal in nature and have constant value in time. It is contrasted with a mathematical constant, which has a fixed numerical value, but does not directly involve any physical measurement.
The ampere, often shortened to "amp", is the base unit of electric current in the International System of Units (SI). It is named after André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836), French mathematician and physicist, considered the father of electrodynamics.
The calorie is a unit of energy. The Calorie is 1,000 calories.
The centimetre–gram–second system of units is a variant of the metric system based on the centimetre as the unit of length, the gram as the unit of mass, and the second as the unit of time. All CGS mechanical units are unambiguously derived from these three base units, but there are several different ways of extending the CGS system to cover electromagnetism.
The International System of Units is the modern form of the metric system, and is the most widely used system of measurement. It comprises a coherent system of units of measurement built on seven base units, which are the ampere, kelvin, second, metre, kilogram, candela, mole, and a set of twenty prefixes to the unit names and unit symbols that may be used when specifying multiples and fractions of the units. The system also specifies names for 22 derived units, such as lumen and watt, for other common physical quantities.
The steradian or square radian is the SI unit of solid angle. It is used in three-dimensional geometry, and is analogous to the radian, which quantifies planar angles. Whereas an angle in radians, projected onto a circle, gives a length on the circumference, a solid angle in steradians, projected onto a sphere, gives an area on the surface. The name is derived from the Greek στερεός stereos 'solid' + radian.
The volt is the derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force. It is named after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827).
The mole is the base unit of amount of substance in the International System of Units (SI). Effective 20 May 2019, the mole is defined as the amount of a chemical substance that contains exactly 6.02214076×1023 (Avogadro constant) constitutive particles, e.g., atoms, molecules, ions or electrons.
The unified mass unit or dalton is a standard unit of mass that quantifies mass on an atomic or molecular scale. One unified atomic mass unit is approximately the mass of one nucleon and is numerically equivalent to 1g/mol. It is defined as one twelfth of the mass of an unbound neutral atom of carbon-12 in its nuclear and electronic ground state and at rest, and has a value of 1.660539040(20)×10−27 kg, or approximately 1.66 yoctograms. The CIPM has categorised it as a non-SI unit accepted for use with the SI, and whose value in SI units must be obtained experimentally.
The metric system is an internationally recognised decimalised system of measurement. It is in widespread use, and where it is adopted, it is the only or most common system of weights and measures. It is now known as the International System of Units (SI). It is used to measure everyday things such as the mass of a sack of flour, the height of a person, the speed of a car, and the volume of fuel in its tank. It is also used in science, industry and trade.
In dimensional analysis, a dimensionless quantity is a quantity to which no physical dimension is assigned, also known as a bare, pure, or scalar quantity or a quantity of dimension one, with a corresponding unit of measurement in the SI of one unit that is not explicitly shown. Dimensionless quantities are widely used in many fields, such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, engineering, and economics. Examples of quantities to which dimensions are regularly assigned are length, time, and speed, which are measured in dimensional units, such as metre, second and metre per second. This is considered to aid intuitive understanding. However, especially in mathematical physics, it is often more convenient to drop the assignment of explicit dimensions and express the quantities without dimensions, e.g., addressing the speed of light simply by the dimensionless number 1.
The Faraday constant, denoted by the symbol F and sometimes stylized as ℱ, is named after Michael Faraday. In physics and chemistry, this constant represents the magnitude of electric charge per mole of electrons. It has the currently accepted value
A base unit is a unit adopted for measurement of 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 units, or Systeme International d'unites which consists of the metre, kilogram, second, ampere, Kelvin, mole and candela are base units.
Gaussian units constitute a metric system of physical units. This system is the most common of the several electromagnetic unit systems based on cgs (centimetre–gram–second) units. It is also called the Gaussian unit system, Gaussian-cgs units, or often just cgs units. The term "cgs units" is ambiguous and therefore to be avoided if possible: cgs contains within it several conflicting sets of electromagnetism units, not just Gaussian units, as described below.
The physical constant ε0, commonly called the vacuum permittivity, permittivity of free space or electric constant or the distributed capacitance of the vacuum, is an ideal, (baseline) physical constant, which is the value of the absolute dielectric permittivity of classical vacuum. It has an exactly defined value that can be approximated as
The molar mass constant, symbol Mu, is a physical constant which relates relative atomic mass and molar mass. Its value is defined to be 1 g/mol in SI units.
A redefinition of SI base units is scheduled to come into force on 20 May 2019. The kilogram, ampere, kelvin, and mole will then be defined by setting exact numerical values for the Planck constant, the elementary electric charge, the Boltzmann constant, and the Avogadro constant, respectively. The second, metre and candela are already defined by physical constants, subject to correction to their present definitions. The new definitions aim to improve the SI without changing the size of any units, thus ensuring continuity with existing measurements. In November 2018, the 26th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) unanimously approved these changes, which the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) had proposed earlier that year.
In physics, natural units are physical units of measurement based only on universal physical constants. For example, the elementary charge e is a natural unit of electric charge, and the speed of light c is a natural unit of speed. A purely natural system of units has all of its units defined in this way, and usually such that the numerical values of the selected physical constants in terms of these units are exactly 1. These constants are then typically omitted from mathematical expressions of physical laws, and while this has the apparent advantage of simplicity, it may entail a loss of clarity due to the loss of information for dimensional analysis. It precludes the interpretation of an expression in terms of fundamental physical constants, such as e and c, unless it is known which units the expression is supposed to have. In this case, the reinsertion of the correct powers of e, c, etc., can be uniquely determined.
A coherent system of units is a system of units based on a system of quantities in such a way that the equations between the numerical values expressed in the units of the system have exactly the same form, including numerical factors, as the corresponding equations between the quantities. Equivalently, it is a system in which every quantity has a unique unit, or one that does not use conversion factors.
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