After years of nursing a sometimes dusty cylinder of metal in a vault outside Paris as the global reference for modern mass, scientists are updating the definition of the kilogram.
At the end of a week-long meeting at the Palace of Versailles in Paris, the worlds leading measurement aficionados at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures will vote on Friday to make an “electronic kilogram” the new baseline measure of mass.
Just as the redefinition of the second in 1967 helped to ease communication across the world via technologies, such as GPS and the internet, experts say the change in the kilogram will be better for technology, retail and health — though it probably won’t change the price of fish much.
Right measure: A replica of the International Prototype Kilogram in Sevres ; and right, a scientist working on the kibble balance, an instrument for accurate measurement. | Photo Credit: HANDOUT
The kilogram has been defined since 1889 by a shiny piece of platinum-iridium kept in Paris. All modern mass measurements are traceable back to it — from mg of pharmaceutical medicines to kilos of apples and pears and tonnes of steel or cement.
The problem is, the “international prototype kg” doesn’t always weigh the same. Even inside its three glass bell jars, it gets dusty and dirty, and is affected by the atmosphere. Sometimes, it really needs a wash.
“There are pollutants in the atmosphere that can stick to the mass,” said Ian Robinson, a specialist in the engineering, materials and electrical science department at Britain’s National Physical Laboratory.
“So when you just get it out of the vault, it’s slightly dirty. But the whole process of cleaning or handling or using the mass can change its mass. So it’s not the best way, perhaps, of defining mass.”
Kibble balance
What’s needed is something more constant.
The new definition involves an apparatus called the Kibble balance, which makes use of the constant to measure the mass of an object using a precisely measured electromagnetic force.
In the present system, you have to relate small masses to large masses by subdivision. That’s very difficult — and the uncertainties build up very, very quickly,” Mr. Robinson said.
“One of the things this (new) technique allows us to do is to actually measure mass directly at whatever scale we like, and that’s a big step forward.
But while the accuracy will be a boon to scientists, Mr. Robinson said that, for the consumer buying flour or bananas, “there will be absolutely no change whatsoever”.