Metrology

The Science of Measurement

Metrology
“the science that deals with measurement”
by International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM)
Bureau International des Poids et
Mesures

Measure
“to determine the dimension, quantity or
capacity of something”
History of Measurement
 History of Measurement
◼ The first record of a permanent
standard was in 2900 BC, when
the royal Egyptian cubit was carved
from black granite.
◼ The cubit was decreed to be the
length of the Pharaoh's forearm plus
the width of his hand, and replica
standards were given to builders.
 Egyptian Cubit

Cubit rod from the Turin Museum.

The Nippur cubit-rod in the Archeological

Museum of Istanbul, Turkey
 History of measurement
systems in India
◼ The king should examine the weights and balances every
six months to ensure true measurements and to mark them
with the royal stamp. -- Manusmriti, 8th
chapter, Shloka 403.
◼ The measurement system during the time of
the Mughal emperor, Akbar, the guz was the measure of
length. The guz was widely used till the introduction of the
metric system in India in 1956.
◼ The National Physical Laboratory (NPL), India
was one of the earliest national laboratories set up under
the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research
(CSIR). Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation stone of NPL
on 4 January 1947.
 Metric System (SI)
SEVEN BASE UNITS
Mass Kilogram (kg)
International System
Length Meter (m)
of Measurement
Time Second (s)

Temperature Kelvin (K)

Electric Current Ampere (A)

Amount of Substance Mole (mol)

Luminous Intensity Candela (cd)

 Terminologies in Measurement
Accuracy
◼ Accuracy is defined as the closeness of the
measured value with true value.
◼ Practically it is very difficult to measure
the true value and therefore a set of
observations is made whose mean value is
taken as the true value of the quantity
measured.
Terminologies in Measurement
Precision
◼ A measure of how close repeated trials are
to each.
◼ Precision is the repeatability of the
measuring process. It refers to the group
of measurements for the same
characteristics taken under identical
conditions.
◼ If the instrument is not precise it will give
different results for the same dimension
when measured again and again.
 Distinction between Precision
and Accuracy

◼ A: Three darts hit the target center and are very close
together = high accuracy and precision
◼ B: Three darts hit the target center but are not very
close together = high accuracy, low precision
◼ C: Three darts do not hit the target center but are
very close together = low accuracy, high precision
◼ D: Three darts do not hit the target center and are
not close together = low accuracy and precision
Standards of length
measurement
 Standards of length
measurement
1. Line standard
2. End standard
3. Wavelength standard

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 Line standard
◼ Metre : “Distance between centre
portions of two lines engraved on the
polished surface of a bar of pure
platinum-iridium alloy (90-10%) kept
at 0 degree and under normal
atmospheric pressure.” – 1899
◼ Dis advantage
• Subjected to changes by time
• Highly inconvenient
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 End standard
◼ Defined between working faces
which are flat and mutually parallel.
◼ Eg: slip gauges, gap gauges,
micrometer, vernier caliper etc.

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 Line Standard End Standard

◼ 1. Line standards do not ◼ 1. End standards more

provide high accuracy. suited to accuracy
requirements of higher
◼ 2. They are quick and order.
easy to use over a wide
range. ◼ 2. They are time
consuming in use, and
◼ 3. They are not prove only one
subjected to wear dimension at a time.
although significant
wear on leading end ◼ 3. They are subjected to
leads to under-sizing. wear on their measuring
faces.
◼ 4. They are subjected to
the parallax effect, a ◼ 4. They are not
source of both positive subjected to parallax
and negative reading effect as their use
errors. depends on ‘feel’.
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 Wave length standard
◼ Metre: “1650763.73 x wavelength of
radiation corresponding to transition
between level 2p10 – 5 d5 of Krypton
86 atom in vaccum.” (1960)
◼ “Length of path travelled by light in
vaccum during a interval of 1/299 792
458 second.” Measured by cesium-133
atomic clock (1984, Geneva conference
on weights and measures)

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