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US Objects To the Kilogram
Velcroman1 writes "For 130 years, the kilogram has weighed precisely one kilogram. Hasn't it? The US government isn't so sure. The precise weight of the kilogram is based on a platinum-iridium cylinder manufactured 130 years ago; it's kept in a vault in France at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. Forty of the units were manufactured at the time, to standardize the measure of weight. But due to material degradation and the effects of quantum physics, the weight of those blocks has changed over time. That's right, the kilogram no longer weighs 1 kilogram, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology. And it's time to move to a different standard anyway. A proposed revision would remove the final connection to that physical bit of matter, said Ambler Thompson, a NIST scientist involved in the international effort. 'We get rid of the last artifact.'"
That is one super-shitty Fox article that's been chosen to base the headline here on.
FTA: "...now NIST plans submit what amounts to a formal complaint at next October's General Conference on Weights and Measures -- along with a proposal to define a new kilogram according to something called a Planck value... Physicists may scoff at the thought people allowed to walk among the living who don't know what a Planck value is. But all you need to know is, they're using it to determine the mass of one mole of silicon atoms."
Yeah: Bullshit and more bullshit.
We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
The amount of pure water under regulated conditions that fits in a cubic decimeter. The meter is derived from the speed of light in a vacuum (Wikipedia or Google the exact amount).
You guys really needed to have paid better attention in your 4th grade physics classes, this is quite basic (a good question for "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?"). Oh, you're American, never mind then.
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How does "America" define the pound...?
Take one quarter-pounder (with cheese), multiply by four, et voila, one pound. It's so simple, even Glenn Beck can do it! The reason he WON'T do it is because he thinks McDonald's is a Scottish Muslim liberal conspiracy. He'd prefer you eat gold after the whole socio-economic system is destroyed by Obama. Fortunately, after the fall of civilization, Christine O'Donnell will make sure you can't masturbate, and I'm sure that will turn things around very quickly.