India has adopted a new meteorological standard on May 20th 2019, in a bid to redefine its four of the seven base units, kilogramme, Kelvin, mole and ampere, a move that will have implications in science and research, including some changes in textbooks.
The General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) under International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), Paris on November 16 last year, passed a resolution (Le kilogramme est mort, vive le kilogramme), to redefine four of the seven base units which was to be adopted by 100 countries. But it was adopted by the world on May 20 (World Meteorology Day).
International System of Units (SI)
Since 1889, the world has been using the metric system of measurements, which is also known as the International System of Units (SI), which was adopted by consensus of over 100 countries. The other base units which are not changed are second (Time), Meter (Length) and candela (Luminous intensity).
New adopted systems of measurement
In recent years, metrologists were looking for new and more precise standards, so now the changes are based on the Planck constant, which is the ratio of energy to frequency of a photon, measured to its most precise value yet only last year.
Earlier, Kilogramme was defined by International Prototype of the Kilogram (IPK), which is made up of 90 percent platinum and 10 percent iridium, and kept in a special vault in the BIPM headquarters, now it will be based on plank constant.
As per new units, a metre will be defined by the distance travel by light in a vacuum, in 1/299792458 part of a second, a second would be the time taken by a caesium atom to oscillate 9,192,631,770 times.
K Aswal, Director of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), New Delhi, said, “The fundamental constants are invariants of time and space and have successfully replaced the artifact based units, and aptly opened up the new era for quantum world by linking all seven base units to fundamental constants or quantum standards”
The basic purpose of this system units is to enable worldwide coherence of measurements and to bring uniformity among all. The International System of Units (SI) unit was formalised in 1960 and has been updated fewer times, whenever development in measurement technology happens.
Doesn’t affect day-to-day life
The adopted changes in measurements have been designed in a way that it does not have immediate consequences on daily life. These measurements have contributed significantly in advanced science, engineering, manufacturing, healthcare, research and also in our day-to-day lives.
The NPL, one of the scientific laboratories, that also takes care of meteorology standards domestically, has also sent recommendations of proposed changes to National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) so that they could adopt new changes and implement them in contemporary education.
Further Recommendations has also been sent to All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs), and other academic institutes, to insert the following adopted changes into syllabi of an engineering graduate and other technical courses.
Also read: History In The Making: Scientists To Overhaul Metric System Which Will Change The One True Kilogram
