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Standards of Length Mass and Time

The document discusses the standards of length, mass, and time that are used in physics. The International System of Units (SI) defines the meter as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299792458 of a second, the kilogram as the mass of a platinum-iridium cylinder kept in France, and the second as 9192631770 periods of radiation from a cesium atom. These three quantities—length, mass, and time—along with their standard SI units, are the fundamental quantities that all other mechanical measurements can be derived from.

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53 views

Standards of Length Mass and Time

The document discusses the standards of length, mass, and time that are used in physics. The International System of Units (SI) defines the meter as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299792458 of a second, the kilogram as the mass of a platinum-iridium cylinder kept in France, and the second as 9192631770 periods of radiation from a cesium atom. These three quantities—length, mass, and time—along with their standard SI units, are the fundamental quantities that all other mechanical measurements can be derived from.

Uploaded by

Beta Mathematica
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 7

Standards of Length, Mass, and Time

David Nyirenda

Malawi University of Science and Technology

David Nyirenda (Malawi University of Science andStandards


Technology)
of Length, Mass, and Time 1/7
Introduction

The laws of physics are expressed as mathematical relationships among


physical quantities that we will introduce and discuss throughout the
physics course. Most of these quantities are derived quantities, in that they
can be expressed as combinations of a small number of basic quantities. In
mechanics, the three basic quantities are length, mass, and time. All other
quantities in mechanics can be expressed in terms of these three.

David Nyirenda (Malawi University of Science andStandards


Technology)
of Length, Mass, and Time 2/7
Standards of Length, Mass, and Time

Quantity Standard Unit


Length Meter (m)
Mass Kilogram (kg)
Time Second (s)
Table: Standards of Length, Mass, and Time

David Nyirenda (Malawi University of Science andStandards


Technology)
of Length, Mass, and Time 3/7
Standards of Length

In 1960, an international committee established a set of standards for the


fundamental quantities of science. It is called the SI (Système
International), and its units of length, mass, and time are the meter,
kilogram, and second, respectively.
Length: The meter was redefined in 1983 as the distance traveled by
light in vacuum during a time of 1/299, 792, 458 second.

David Nyirenda (Malawi University of Science andStandards


Technology)
of Length, Mass, and Time 4/7
Standards of Mass

The SI unit of mass, the kilogram (kg), is defined as the mass of a specific
platinum–iridium alloy cylinder kept at the International Bureau of
Weights and Measures at Sèvres, France.

David Nyirenda (Malawi University of Science andStandards


Technology)
of Length, Mass, and Time 5/7
Standards of Time

In 1967, the second was redefined to take advantage of the high precision
attainable in a device known as an atomic clock. The second (s) is now
defined as 9, 192, 631, 770 times the period of vibration of radiation from
the cesium atom.

David Nyirenda (Malawi University of Science andStandards


Technology)
of Length, Mass, and Time 6/7
Conclusion

In addition to SI units, another system of units, the U.S. customary


system, is still used in the United States. In this text, we shall use SI units
because they are almost universally accepted in science and industry.

David Nyirenda (Malawi University of Science andStandards


Technology)
of Length, Mass, and Time 7/7

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