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Perfect Silicon Sphere to Redefine the Kilogram

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the weights-and-measures dept.

MrCreosote writes "The Age reports optical specialists at CSIRO are helping create a new standard for the kilogram, based on a precise number of atoms in a perfect sphere of silicon. This will replace the International Prototype, a lump of metal alloy in a vault in Paris."

1 of 453 comments (clear)

  1. Re:alternate theories by JanneM · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This method works along essentially the same principles as the Watt Balance. In it, a superconductor of a known mass is placed within a superconducting coil.

    If you have a lump of anything of a known mass, why bother with the rest?

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