This is heavy: The kilogram is getting an update

Don't tell Trump that the US is a 'kilo country' - he'll want to withdraw from the 'BIPM'.

I thought it was 1 litre of water at a certain temperature.

I think that's how it is defined (freezing point is the temperature). But it's difficult to create as a comparable measure, thus the platinum thingy.

Actually it's pure water at 4 degree centigrade at one atmosphere which makes water at it's smallest volume but since there are too many variables for this measurement they want a more stable solution.

I can't believe they waste so much time and money on this. They even have this secured behind five security doors! You only need one of these in the world. It's a kilogram for christ's sake! If you want to know how much a kilo is, I have a scale in my kitchen. Just come over or call me.

I can't believe they waste so much time and money on this. They even have this secured behind five security doors!

I understand your sentiment, however high tech components, precision instruments, and the machinery needed to make those depend on precise measurements.

Without such “useless” standards, space exploration, climate prediction, smartphones, computers etc wouldn’t be possible.

The Grand K actually lost mass over the years - IIRC, about 50 micrograms, the weight of an eyelash

Or if you look at it another way, since the Grand K is the standard, then everyone and everything just became 50 micrograms heavier, lol

I can't believe they waste so much time and money on this. They even have this secured behind five security doors! You only need one of these in the world. It's a kilogram for christ's sake! If you want to know how much a kilo is, I have a scale in my kitchen. Just come over or call me.

Actually, by definition, your scale is set calibrated to the Grand K - meaning if the Grand K changes mass/weight, then guess what, your scale will be recalibrated to the new weight

That means your kilo is no longer the kilogram, and your old scale is now wrong, lol

But that's the whole reason they're changing away from the weight of the platinum-iridium alloy. The alloy is one of the most stable substances in the world, but as mentioned above, even it lost mass over the years. And whenever it does that, then everything has to be recalibrated again.

So to stop that, they're changing the standard to a relation based to an universal constant that never changes (like the speed of light is an universal constant, though in the case of the kilogram, it will be set based to the Planck's constant)

That’s it. I’m going on a diet tomorrow’s that microgram.

That’s it. I’m going on a diet tomorrow and lose that microgram.

Sorry. My keyboard is acting up.

I still think we should have stuck with the Slug, Blob and Glug!

Yes they were real measurements :)