Re: Metric System Is Gay

On Jul 2, 7:25=A0am, HVAC <MR.H...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> The kilogram is the only remaining standard of measurement tied to a
> single physical object: a 120-year-old lump of platinum and iridium
> that sits in a vault outside of Paris, France. But the mass of this
> chunk of metal is slowly changing relative to the 40-odd copies kept
> by other countries, and no one knows why or by how much.
>
> So researchers charged with policing units and measures, called
> metrologists, have come up with several suggestions to redefine the
> kilogram. In 2011, the International Committee for Weights and
> Measures will try to decide the issue.
> One proposal, pushed by an international team called the Avogadro
> Project, aims to define the kilogram in terms of a specific number of
> silicon atoms. Just how many? That's where the newly created silicon
> spheres come in.
> Atom spacingOver the next few years, groups in Italy, Belgium, Japan
> and the US will try to calculate the exact number of atoms in each
> one.
> It is no easy task. To determine the volume of each sphere, they will
> use optical interferometers to measure its width from 60,000 different
> points on its surface.
> Meanwhile, X-ray crystallographers will take pictures of the silicon
> crystal structure to determine the spacing and density of the atoms.
> By multiplying volume by density, each group should produce its own
> count of how many silicon atoms make up a kilogram. The im****tant
> thing is for those numbers to agree with each other.

I think the kilogram should be expressed in something more useful and
common like cocaine.

JohnN