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Exactly One Kilogram Of Silicon

Posted by timothy on from the objective-or-arbitrary dept.

Ed Pegg Jr writes "You may know of the importance of 299792458 for length, and 9192631770 for time. However, the official standard for weight is still a block of platinum/iridium made a hundred years ago. A group of scientists from the Avogadro Project are hoping to change that, though, by producing a perfect sphere of ultrapure silicon."

2 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Honest Question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What exactly is the benefit of having an object with a mass of exactly one kilogram if we already know, mathematically, how much one kilogram is?

  2. Diamond by tsa · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Pity they can't make a perfect sphere of 1 kg of diamond. Diamond has, I think, a less complicated chemistry to take into account. At least I never heard of diamond surfaces oxidizing.

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