Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The kilogram (also spelled kilogramme [1]) is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI), having the unit symbol kg. [1] The word "kilogram" is formed from the combination of the metric prefix kilo-(meaning one thousand) and gram; [2] it is colloquially shortened to "kilo" (plural "kilos").
The International Prototype of the Kilogram (referred to by metrologists as the IPK or Le Grand K; sometimes called the ur-kilogram, [1] [2] or urkilogram, [3] particularly by German-language authors writing in English [3] [4]:30 [5]: 64 ) is an object whose mass was used to define the kilogram from 1889, when it replaced the Kilogramme des ...
The base units are defined in terms of the defining constants. For example, the kilogram is defined by taking the Planck constant h to be 6.626 070 15 × 10 −34 J⋅s, giving the expression in terms of the defining constants [1]: 131 1 kg = (299 792 458) 2 / (6.626 070 15 × 10 −34)(9 192 631 770) h Δν Cs / c 2 .
These prefixes are also commonly used to create metric units corresponding to older conventional units, for example hectares and hectopascals. Prefixes may not be used in combination on a single symbol. This includes the case of the base unit kilogram, which already contains a prefix. For example, milligram (mg) is used instead of microkilogram ...
Scientists want to define the kilogram by gravity—and not just electricity. Here’s why correctly quantifying mass is more important than you think.
The SI system after 1983, but before the 2019 revision: Dependence of base unit definitions on other base units (for example, the metre is defined as the distance travelled by light in a specific fraction of a second), with the constants of nature and artefacts used to define them (such as the mass of the IPK for the kilogram).
For example, in retail commerce, the "net weight" of products actually refers to mass, and is expressed in mass units such as grams or ounces (see also Pound: Use in commerce). Conversely, the load index rating on automobile tires, which specifies the maximum structural load for a tire in kilograms, refers to weight; that is, the force due to ...
The kilogram is the only standard unit to include an SI prefix (kilo-) as part of its name. The gram (10 −3 kg) is an SI derived unit of mass. However, the names of all SI mass units are based on gram , rather than on kilogram ; thus 10 3 kg is a megagram (10 6 g), not a * kilokilogram .