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The kilogram is 1 of the well-nigh important and widely used units of measure in the globe — unless yous live in the United states. For everyone else, having an accurate reading on what a kilogram is can be vitally important in fields similar manufacturing, applied science, and transportation. Of class, a kilogram is ane,000 grams or ii.2 pounds if you want to get imperial. That doesn't help you define a kilogram, though. The kilogram is currently controlled by a metal slug in a French vault, merely its days of importance are numbered. Scientists are preparing to redefine the kilogram using science.

It's actually harder than you lot'd look to know when a measurement matches the intended standard, even when it's i of the well-divers Systéme International (SI) units. For example, the meter was originally divers in 1793 as one ten-millionth the distance from the equator to the northward pole. That value was wrong, but the meter has since been redefined in more exact terms similar krypton-86 wavelength emissions and most recently the speed of calorie-free in a vacuum. The second was previously defined equally a tiny fraction of how long information technology takes the Earth to orbit the sun. Now, it'southward pegged to the amount of fourth dimension information technology takes a cesium-133 cantlet to oscillate ix,192,631,770 times. Again, this is immutable and extremely precise.

That brings us to the kilogram, which is a measurement of mass. Weight is different and changes based on gravity, but a kilogram is e'er a kilogram considering information technology comes from measurements of density and volume. The definition of the kilogram is tied to the International Prototype of the Kilogram (IPK, encounter above), a modest cylinder of platinum and iridium kept at the International Agency of Weights and Measures in France. Scientists accept created dozens of copies of the IPK then private nations can standardize their measurements, but that'south a unsafe way to become about it. If anything happened to the IPK, we wouldn't have a standard kilogram anymore.

Later this calendar month, scientists at the international General Briefing on Weights and Measures are expected to vote on a new definition for the kilogram, one that leaves the IPK behind and ties the measurement to the unchanging laws of the universe. Researchers from the National Found of Standards and Applied science in the US and the National Physical Laboratory in England are working on the problem of connecting mass with electromagnetic forces.

The Kibble Residue at the Great britain's National Physical Laboratory.

The heart of this try is the Kibble Balance, a stupendously complex device that quantifies the electric current needed to match the electromagnetic force equal to the gravitational force acting on a mass. So, information technology does not measure mass directly but instead measures the electromagnetic strength between ii plates. This allows scientists to connect the mass of a kilogram to the Planck constant, which is much less probable to modify than a metal slug in a French vault.

And so, the kilogram isn't changing in whatever mode that matters in your daily life, but that's kind of the point. The kilogram is important, so information technology can't change. Redefining the kilogram to get away from the IPK ensures it remains the same forever.

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