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Roundest Object In the World Created
holy_calamity writes "An international research group has created the most perfect spheres ever made, in a bid to pin down a definition of the kilogram. It should be possible to count exactly the number of atoms in one of the roughly 9cm silicon spheres to define the unit. Currently the kilogram is defined only by a 120-year-old lump of platinum in Paris, but its mass is changing relative to copies held elsewhere. Other SI units have more systematic definitions."
No mere human will never be able to accomplish what God did with Jennifer Lopez's ass.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I don't know what kind of ero-manga you've been reading (Ok, perhaps I do...), but real boobs aren't spherical. Especially not ones that would be anywhere near being considered 'perfect'.
- These characters were randomly selected.
Ero-manga?
"Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted." -Groucho Marx
In a press release today, Sir Mix-A-Lot is quoted as saying that, by viewing this object, "You get sprung", as well as "[wanting to] pull up tough" because of the perfect shape of the object.
He was later quoted as saying that "I like'em round and big, And when I'm throwin a gig, I just can't help myself". Clearly, he is an aficionado for perfectly round objects.
* my captcha was "beating", which is what I deserve for the 90's reference.
In other news... these same scientists are hosting the BEST GAME OF PONG EVER this weekend!
"Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule."
So the metric system, which is touted as being so much more accurate than the measurements we here in the U.S. know and love is has a measurement that is based on a disappearing lump of metal? The only logical conclusion one can draw from this disclosure is that the metric system is magic, and should be burned at the stake.
That's precisely what they are trying to do.
Onda Technology Institute
You can define a kilogram in the number of atoms of X element, but you still need a physical object to calibrate your scales against. In this case, I believe they did it by number of silicon atoms. TFA says they went and milled a silicon sphere (purified to only Silicon-28) weighing as close to the current standard as they can get it. Next they're going to measure it (X-rays and the such) to find the density, spacing, and the such and end up getting a number of silicon atoms. This number will now BE the kilogram, and these spheres are going to be the new physical standards. They are suppose to be an improvement in that is it theoretically possible to recreate these spheres should anything happen to them (as we know the amount silicon needed), while it is not possible to recreate the current standards.
My other summary was a bit off, got the process a little backwards.
So I'm not getting fatter, it's the kilogram that's getting slender!
"First we create a perfect sphere, then we count the number of atoms exactly - and we get a kilogram standard!"
"Alright... so how big do we make this sphere?"
"Oh you know.. roughly 9 cm, give or take."
why not just define a kg as 1 Liter of pure H2O at 4deg C?....it is that way anyway.
Did anyone else read "most perfect", and flinch?
A soccer match with a ball made from solid silicon? Now that's something I'd pay to watch.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
Ero-manga?
Ero-Manga is the proper term for what most clueless US fanboys call "Hentai Manga."
Specifically, he was pointing out that some Ero-Mangaka ("Hentai Artists") draw breasts as if they were morbidly huge helium filled balloons floating on top of a woman's chest.
All this in an attempt to state that you do not know what good breasts look at, having (apparently?) based your opinion on Japanese ero-manga anatomy.
All this in a completely-missing-the-point of the "Heh, Boobs are Round, Scientists are Horny" joke he was replying to.
... Wow, geeky of me, eh? I do however, wish to go on the record that I fully support scientific efforts to find/create the perfect breasts.
Well, it's sorta like this: a standard is only useful if you have some effective way to reproduce it or measure with it.
1. time. You can essentially just make a MASER, which means basically a cavity which resonates at that frequency. The nice part is that it can be tuned, and even continuously tuned, by just measuring the amplitude of the signal. When you've reached the maximum power, the thing is tuned to that frequency.
2. length. It's measured by Interferometry, so you have a meaningful way to transform a wavelength into any given distance.
At any rate, the transition for these two only happened when someone build a device which could actually measure one second or one metre that way.
3. mass. Well, that's the tricky one. Saying that you define a kilogram as one bazillion silicium atoms is useless unless you can somehow actually produce a lump with that many atoms. As long as we can't actually be sure how many atoms are in there, it would be a useless standard.
These guys claim to have been able to do just that: say with a high degree of confidence that, yep, their spheres contain exactly that many atoms. If they're right, then we're finally ready to move the kilo to that standard.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
I think that Gravity Probe B has the most perfect spheres and they are much smaller that the Kilogram sphere.
Kilogram Silicon Spheres
"If you were to blow up our spheres to the size of the Earth, you would see a small ripple in the smoothness of about 12 to 15 mm, and a variation of only 3 to 5 metres in the roundness"
Gravity Probe B Spheres
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/gpb/index.html
"If these ping pong-sized balls of fused quartz and silicon were the size of the Earth, the elevation of the entire surface would vary by no more than 12 feet"
We are Dead Stars looking back Up at the Sky
Please don't go around trying to be witty against people who don't just live in Japan, but also speaks the language.
Ero-manga is what they call it. If I wanted to talk about hentai, the really creepy kind of mangas, I'd have called it that.
- These characters were randomly selected.
Is this really the reason why it's a sphere? Crystals don't PRECISELY grow into a sphere do they? Won't they still need to shave or polish it to get it to the exact radius? And then they'll need to calculate the number of atoms using Pi, an irrational number!
Why don't they make it a cube and find a length that is close enough (cubed) to give them the approx. right number of atoms and then make THAT the standard? They'll then have an EXACT number of atoms making up each length. It should be easier to cut or shave off the requisite number of atoms to maintain it, a (perfectly) flat surface seems much easier to maintain than a 3D curved surface. In fact if they make it just a little too small they could probably even ADD to the cube in single atomic layers using vapor deposition!
Obviously brighter minds than mine have thought this through more thoroughly, so really, I'm curious: why is it a sphere?
By the way, maybe this is a good use for the ISS, to keep the 1kg reference MASS somewhere it won't be distorted by gravity, not kept at any particular country for measurement and you can keep it in a high quality vacuum for free! (A little expensive to get to though).
I do however, wish to go on the record that I fully support scientific efforts to find/create the perfect breasts
If all women had scientifically 'perfect' breasts then those perfect breasts would get pretty boring, unless the scientific process took into account many different factors and created different breasts for each person. I think 'perfect' is all down to personal preference.
There is beauty in many different breast shapes, though everyone will have their preferences. I think any slashdotter with access to any kind of breasts would be pretty happy. Apart from the female ones, they probably aren't too fussed.
which is totally what she said
It's not totally worthless, as the kilogram is the basis for just about all other SI units. It is the only unit that is not defined according to other units, or in relation to a natural property. Thus, its definition is arbitrary, and everybody must agree as to what a kilogram is before the unit has any value as a standard. There's a very nice explanation of the kilogram as a fundamental unit here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilogram#Importance_of_the_kilogram
I hate printers.
*raises her hand*
There is beauty in many different breast shapes, though everyone will have their preferences. I think any slashdotter with access to any kind of breasts would be pretty happy. Apart from the female ones, they probably aren't too fussed.
Sadly, I suspect that a great many slashdotters have breasts. Male or female...
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
why not use, say, electrons, as in 1kg=weight of 1.1xxxe30 electrons (at rest)?
They tried that, but when they charged their terafarad capacitor with 1e30 electrons so that they could calibrate their scale, somebody accidentally grounded it and the massive arc of current blew the roof off of the lab.
They are Dalek-bumps, you insensitive clod!
That's actually the reasoning behind the Watt Balance another potential method for defining the kilogram.
Keep in mind that the Joule is a composite SI unit, and is itself dependent on the mass of the kilogram. Unless you can calibrate the energy measurements (exactly what they are trying to do) you end up with a circular definition.
It's 1024 grams, right? Easy definition.
> Honestly, as a married man I don't understand why anyone would think that...
>
> My first thought was of more efficient ball bearings
Thanks. I've printed this comment out and plan to show it to my friends when they bug me about why I'm not married.