SI Units

Some comments on standards. We generally use SI units in astronomy. To inform you:

Mass is measured based on a kilogram (kg) standard.
Length (or displacement or position) is based on a meter (m) standard.
Time is based on a second (s) standard.

How do we get these standards?

Length - meter (m)

- originally 1 ten-millionth the distance from north pole (of Earth) to equator
- then a distance between two fine lines engraved on a platinum-iridium bar
- (1960): 1,650,763.73 wavelengths of a particular orange-red light emitted by atoms of Kr-86 in a gas discharge tube
- (1983, current standard): the length of path traveled by light during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 seconds

That is, the speed of light is 299,792,458 m/s. This is the fastest speed that exists. Why this is is quite a subtle thing. Short answer: the only things that can travel that fast aren't "things" at all, but rather massless electromagnetic radiation. Low-mass things (particles) can travel in excess of 99% the speed of light.

Long answer: See relativity.

Time - second (s)

- Originally, the time for a pendulum (1-m long) to swing from one side of path to other
- Later, a fraction of mean solar day
- (1967): the time taken by 9,192,631,770 vibrations of a specific wavelength of light emitted by a cesium-133 atom

Mass - kilogram (kg)

- originally based on the mass of a cubic decimeter of water
- standard of mass is now the platinum-iridium cylinder kept at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures near Paris
- secondary standards are based on this
- 1 u (atomic mass unit, or AMU) = 1.6605402 x 10^-27 kg
- so, the Carbon-12 atom is 12 u in mass

Volume - liter (l)

- volume occupied by a mass of 1 kg of pure water at certain conditions
- 1.000028 decimeters cubed
- ml is approximately 1 cc

Temperature - kelvin (K)

- 1/273.16 of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water (1 K = 1 degree C)
- degrees C + 273.15
- 0 K = absolute zero

For further reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SI_units

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_system#History

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In addition, we spoke about the spherocity of the Earth and how we know its size. I've written about this previously. Please see the blog entries below:

http://howdoweknowthat.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-do-we-know-that-earth-is-spherical.html

http://howdoweknowthat.blogspot.com/2009/07/so-how-big-is-earth.html