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The kilogram doesn't weigh a kilogram any more. This sad news was announced during a seminar at CERN on Thursday, 26 October by Professor Klaus von Klitzing, who was awarded the 1985 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the quantised Hall effect. "We are about to witness a revolutionary change in the way the kilogram is defined," he declared.
Together with six other units – metre, second, ampere, kelvin, mole, and candela – the kilogram, a unit of mass, is part of the International System of Units (SI) that is used as a basis to express every measurable object or phenomenon in nature in numbers. This unit's current definition is based on a small platinum and iridium cylinder, known as "le grand K", whose mass is exactly one kilogram. The cylinder was crafted in 1889 and, since then, has been kept safe under three glass bell jars in a high-security vault on the outskirts of Paris. There is one problem: the current standard kilogram is losing weight. About 50 micrograms, at the latest check. Enough to be different from its once-identical copies stored in laboratories around the world.
To solve this weight(y) problem, scientists have been looking for a new definition of the kilogram.
Dang. That throws the easily memorable conversion of 1kg=2.2lbs right out the window.
(Score: 4, Touché) by BK on Tuesday November 07 2017, @01:40AM (11 children)
Well, in some high gravity areas, in Jupiter's gravity well for example, it may weigh a ton. Or more!
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday November 07 2017, @03:47AM (1 child)
Forget about Jupiter. A give mass will weigh dirrently, depending on where you weigh it, right here on earth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_of_Earth#Variation_in_gravity_and_apparent_gravity [wikipedia.org]
Also, from the same page,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_of_Earth#Comparative_gravities_in_various_cities_around_the_world [wikipedia.org]
Comparative gravities in various cities around the world
Tools exist for calculating the strength of gravity at various cities around the world.[13] The effect of latitude can be clearly seen with gravity in high-latitude cities: Anchorage (9.826 m/s2), Helsinki (9.825 m/s2), being about 0.5% greater than that in cities near the equator: Kuala Lumpur (9.776 m/s2), Manila (9.780 m/s2). The effect of altitude can be seen in Mexico City (9.776 m/s2; altitude 2,240 metres (7,350 ft)), and by comparing Denver (9.798 m/s2; 1,616 metres (5,302 ft)) with Washington, D.C. (9.801 m/s2; 30 metres (98 ft)), both of which are near 39° N. Measured values can be obtained from Physical and Mathematical Tables by T.M. Yarwood and F. Castle, Macmillan, revised edition 1970.[14]
As you can see, you can move a "perfectly" defined and calculated kilogram from one spot on the earth to another, and find that your kilogram isn't so perfect after all.
BUT - as has already been pointed out, a kilogram isn't a unit of weight at all, but a unit of mass. Despite different weights in different places, that "perfect" example of a kilogram is still a kilogram. Outside influences simply act on that kilogram differently.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday November 07 2017, @05:46PM
> and find that your kilogram isn't so perfect after all.
> Despite different weights in different places, that "perfect" example of a kilogram is still a kilogram. Outside influences simply act on that kilogram differently.
A lot of words to repeat what women all know: Men can't seem to measure properly.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 07 2017, @06:27AM
You may think you're pretty clever, but the new kilogram will be defined by the Watt balance, which does in fact weigh things.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday November 07 2017, @08:16AM (1 child)
The same goes for botanists and their "berries"/"nuts", etc.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 07 2017, @03:08PM
Now tell that to the astronomers and watch the door furor ignite.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Wootery on Tuesday November 07 2017, @02:31PM (5 children)
The ton is a unit of measure of mass, not force.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 07 2017, @03:50PM (3 children)
A metric ton is a measure of mass (1 Megagram).
A US ton is a measure of force (2000 lbs).
(Score: 2) by Wootery on Wednesday November 08 2017, @09:24AM (2 children)
Not according to Wikipedia. [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 1) by toddestan on Friday November 10 2017, @11:31PM (1 child)
The Wiki has it right: "The short ton is a unit of weight equal to 2,000 pounds...", "The tonne, commonly referred to as the metric ton in the United States, is a non-SI metric unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms..."
(Score: 2) by Wootery on Saturday November 11 2017, @09:58AM
I missed that!
(Score: 2) by BK on Wednesday November 08 2017, @03:01AM
Sorry. I meant 'weigh a fuckton'.
...but you HAVE heard of me.