The weight of a kilogram changed overnight; the length of a second may be next

boing
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Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/05/20/the-weight-of-a-kilogram-chang.html

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Not an issue for me, I stick to the US measurements, avoids that messy metric system I dos.

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dons pedant hat

The weight of a kilogram changes all the time - it depends on where you are on the earth’s surface, how high up you are, etc.

I think the news item here is that the mass of a kilogram has changed, but maybe for the last time. The physical artifact was always problematic, whereas the Planck constant is, well, constant.

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My car gets forty rods to the hogshead and that’s the way I likes it.

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Bad news: the US pound is officially defined in terms of the kilogram.

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Oh, I ride a motorcycle too.

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You’re thinking of England. We use the Dollar in the US.

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Yeah, and we still have penny coins to fill jars with.

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I’m still waiting for Hella to be made a real measurement. At least i can rest easy knowing that a Butt load is technically correct

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40 rods==eighth of a mile
hogshead=64 gallons.

so 1/512 mpg…

yes, yes, it’s a simpsons reference

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So, for comparison purposes, if my predator city (Mortal Engines reference) gets 10 chains to the puncheon, do I meet the EPA guidance?

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So I’ll end up either younger and lighter or older and heavier?

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By how much, exactly?

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*Reads headline*
*Runs excitedly to the bathroom scale*
*Is disappointed*

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How many Butt Loads to the Metric Crapton?

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Depends on what the gravitational field surrounding the artifact is.

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Fun fact: the backup standard kilogram is a jar full of pennies kept at the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa.

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The English half-penny weighed 1/16 of an ounce, whereas a B&H filtered cigarette weighed 1 gram.
This used to be important… :roll_eyes:

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If it will do better than 0.3125 furlongs/dram, you’re good.

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Oh, for the days when you could adjust the tracking force on your turntable by taping a dime to the tonearm. That’s the sort of maker culture we’ve lost in the digital era.

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