"If you tell aliens that our units of measurement are based on a hunk of metal,
you will be the laughingstock of the galaxy."
By David Grossman
May 20, 2019
AFP/GETTY IMAGES / GETTY IMAGES
As agreed upon by scientists and representatives from around 60 countries last year, the world's
measuring systems are shifting away from using physical standards. Among the most prominent
of these is the international prototype kilogram known as Le Grand K, a small metal cylinder protected
underneath Paris that has defined weights and measurements since 1889.
The change is meant to remove the risk of relying on physical items. Even microscopic changes, from
air pressure to the metal that has defined a kilogram, could have large implications.
"Unlike a physical object, a fundamental constant doesn't change," says Stephan Schlamminger, a physicist
at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Md, in a press statement.
"Now a kilogram will have the same mass whether you are on Earth, on Mars, or in the Andromeda galaxy."
Read more:
