Redefinition of

the SI base units

Dr. Eric TP SZE
Associate Professor
School of Science and Technology
The Open University of Hong Kong
1. Metrology and Units
Standardization
2. SI Units Redefinition
Metrology and Units
Standardization
What is Metrology ?
• Metrology is derived from two Greek words, one is “Metro” which
means “measurement” and the other is “logy” which means “science”
• Metrology is the science of measurement, embracing both experimental
and theoretical determinations at any level of uncertainty in any field of
science and technology
 Importance of Metrology to the Public
Metrology is not, however, purely the preserve of scientists. It is something of vital
importance to us all. The intricate but invisible network of services, suppliers and
communications upon which we are all dependent rely on metrology for their
efficient and reliable operation. For example:

• The economic success of nations depends upon the ability to manufacture

and trade precisely made and tested products and components
• Satellite navigation systems and international time correlation make accurate
location possible – allowing the networking of computer systems around the
world, and permitting aircraft to land in poor visibility
• Human health depends critically on the ability to make accurate diagnosis,
and in which reliable measurement is increasingly important
• Consumers have to trust the amount of petrol delivered by a pump
When NASA Lost a Spacecraft Due to a Metric Math Mistake
• The Mars Climate Orbiter, built at a cost of $125
million, was a 338-kilogram robotic space probe
launched by NASA on December 11, 1998 to study the
Martian climate
• The navigation team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL) used the metric system in its calculations
• Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, Colorado,
which designed and built the spacecraft, provided
crucial acceleration data in the English system of
inches, feet, and pounds

https://www.simscale.com/blog/2017/12/nasa-mars-climate-orbiter-metric/
Ancient Measurement
• Definitions for liquid (e.g. wine), solid and length measures were
important
• For example, the based of length system was the barleycorn (She), which
equals about 1/360 meter
• 6 She = 1 Shu-si (finger)
• 30 Shu-si = 1 Kush (cubit ( ) ~1/2m)
• 6 Kust = 1 Gi/Ganu (reed)
• 12 Kust = 1 Nindan / GAR (rod ~6m)
• With the measurement units, the Egyptians can explore the science of
Geometry, which can assist them in the construction of the pyramids
• Under this standardization and uniformity of length, the Egyptians
achieved surprising accuracy. Thousands of workers were engaged in
building the Great Pyramid of Giza. Through the use of cubit sticks, they
achieved an accuracy of 0.05% (for about 756 feet or 9069.4 inches, the
error was within 4.5 inches)
Ancient Measurement – Drawback
• Although the Egyptians achieved very good standardization of length, this
standardization was regional. There were multiple standards for the cubit,
which varied greatly due to the standard they were based on, the length
from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow
• Arabian (black) cubit of 21.3 inches
• Arabian (hashimi) cubit of 25.6 inches
• Assyrian cubit of 21.6 inches
• Ancient Egyptian cubit of 20.6 inches
• Ancient Isreali cubit of 17.6 inches
• Ancient Grecian cubit of 18.3 inches
• Ancient Roman cubit of 17.5 inches

• These variations made trade difficult between different regions. As time

evolved there became greater need for trade on a regional basis
 Efforts at standardizing measurement

• English, French and American as leaders strived to

bring order to their marketplaces

Year Event
732 King of Kent – measurement of acre ( )
950 Edgar the Peace Decrees, “all measures must agree with standards kept in London and
Winchester”
1216 Henry III declares in an act that “1 penny should weight the same as 32 grains of wheat; 20
pennies -> 1 ounce; 12 ounces -> 1 pound; 8 pounds -> 1 gallon of wine”
1585 Simon Stevin suggests that a decimal system should be used for weights and measures,
coinage, and divisions of the degree of arc
1790 France’s Louis XVI authorizes scientific investigations aimed at a reform of French weights and
measures. These lead to the development of the first metric system
1824 George IV, in a Weights and Measures Act establishes the “Imperial System of Weights and
Measures”, which is still used
Establishment of the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM)
• The Convention of the Metre was signed in Paris on 20 May
1875 by 17 nations, which provides an improved metric weights
and measures
• The Convention founded the International Bureau of Weights
and Measures (Bureau International des Poids et Mesures,
BIMP), which is a scientific inter-governmental organization
formed as the basis of international agreement on units of
measurement
• The General Conference on Weights and Measures (Conférence
Générale des Poids et Mesures, CGPM) would be held once
every 4 years by the delegates of the governments of the
Member States and observers from the Associates

http://www.bipm.org/en/worldwide-metrology/cgpm/
Development of the International System of Units (SI)
• The activities of the BIPM, which in the beginning were limited to measurements of length and
mass, and to metrological studies in relation to these quantities, have been extended to
standards of measurement of electricity (1927), photometry and radiometry (1937), ionizing
radiation (1960), time scales (1988) and to chemistry (2000)

• in 1889 the 1st Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures sanctioned the new international
prototypes of the metre and kilogram
• 1939, the adoption of a four-dimensional system based on the metre, kilogram, second, and
ampere
• in 1954, approved the introduction of ampere, kelvin and candela as base units, respectively, for
electric current, thermodynamic temperature and luminous intensity
• The name International System of Units (Système International d'Unités), with the abbreviation
SI, was given to the system by the 11th CGPM in 1960
• At the 14th CGPM in 1971, after lengthy discussions between physicists and chemists, the
current version of the SI was completed by adding mole as the base unit for amount of
substance
 Hong Kong - Weights and Measures Ordinance (Cap. 68)
• To make provision with respect to units and standards of measurement and weighing or
measuring equipment used for trade, to regulate trade transactions regarding goods
supplied by weight or measure
• To avoid any fraud in trade by any weighing or measuring equipment
• To standardized Units of measurement: metre as unit of measurement of length and
kilogram as the unit of measurement of mass or weight
• The reference standards shall be in the custody of the Commissioner for Innovation and
Technology or the Government Chemist who shall lodge them at a Government laboratory.

https://www.elegislation.gov.hk/hk/cap68
Metrology Institute and Designated Institute – The Hong Kong Standard and
Calibration Laboratory (SCL) and The Government Laboratory
• Standard and Calibration Laboratory - under the Innovation and
Technology Commission (ITC)
• As the metrology institute in Hong Kong
• Preserve physical reference standards in Hong Kong
• provides calibration services to users of measurement
standards and measuring instruments to ensure measurement
accuracy and proper metrological traceability
https://www.itc.gov.hk/en/quality/scl/index.html

• Government Laboratory (GL)

• As Designated Institute in Hong Kong for chemical metrology
• provision of calibrations or reference value in chemical
reference standards
• provision of certified reference materials (CRMs)
https://www.govtlab.gov.hk/english/metrology.htm
SI Units Redefinition
The International System of Units (SI) – Base Units

https://www.bipm.org/en/publications/si-brochure
Derived Units
Formed by combining the base
units according to the algebraic
relations linking the
corresponding quantities and are
used to measure derived
quantities

https://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/SI
diagram.html
Time - Past
The basic unit of time is “second”.
Early definitions of the second were based on the apparent motion of the sun around the earth.
The solar day was divided into 24 hours, each of which contained 60 minutes of 60 seconds each,
so the second was 1⁄86 400 of the mean “solar day”
However, irregularities in the rotation of the Earth made this an unsatisfactory definition
Leap Second Due to Uneven Rotational Speed of the Earth
A “leap second” is needed because the Earth’s rotation
slows down by about two thousandths of a second
every day
Absorption and Emission of Energy for Cesium Atoms
• New definition: taking the fixed numerical value of the caesium
frequency, ΔνCs, the unperturbed ground-state hyperfine
transition frequency of the caesium 133 atom, to be
9,192,631,770 Hz, which is equal to s
• The electron’s orbits correspond to energy levels, and the
electron can only move between levels when they absorb or
release just the right amount of energy. This energy is absorbed or
released in the form of electromagnetic radiation or other means,
the frequency of which depends on the difference in energy
between the two levels
• The greater the frequency of the radiation, the greater its energy.
In fact, the energy, E, of the radiation is given by the equation E =
hf, where f is the frequency and h is Planck‘s constant
(6.626,070,15 10-34 J s).
• By measuring the frequency of the electromagnetic radiation, like
counting the number of pendulum swings on a pendulum, we can
measure the passage of time.
 NIST-F1 Cesium Fountain Atomic Clock
http://www.nist.gov/pml/div688/grp50/
primary-frequency-standards.cfm
Caesium Beam Primary Measurement Standard is now employed for the
measurement of time and frequency at the metrology institutes
NIST-F1, the US national primary time and frequency standard, is a cesium
fountain atomic clock developed at the NIST laboratories in Boulder,
Colorado
NIST-F1 contributes to the international group of atomic clocks that define
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the official world time. Because NIST-F1
is among the most accurate clocks in the world, it makes UTC more
accurate than ever before
As of January 2013, the uncertainty has been reduced to about 3 x 10-16,
which means it would neither gain nor lose a second in more than 100
million years!
Time commonly use at broadcast by radio is referred to a time scale called
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) can also provide traceability and
uncertainties, and can be used for measurement of time in certain testing
aspects (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuegbmKEAQM)
Length
The base unit of length refers to metre
Originally, 1 metre is defined as one ten-millionth of a quadrant of the
Earth (from the equator to the North Pole (at sea level))
The International Prototype Metre was created in 1889 at the first
General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM). The distance
between two lines on the standard bar composed of an alloy of ninety
percent platinum and ten percent iridium, measured at the melting
point of ice, was defined as 1 metre
New definition and practical realization of metre

Metre is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the speed of

light in vacuum, c, to be 299,792,458 when expressed in the unit m s−1,
where the second is defined in terms of the caesium frequency ΔνCs.
Metrology Institute in Hong Kong uses iodine-stabilized helium-neon
laser with wavelength at 633nm for realising “metre”.
 Mass The base unit of mass is “kilogram”
Originally defined as the absolute weight of 1 litre of water, measured
at the temperature of melting ice.
The isotopic compositions (e.g. 2H/1H; 18O/16O) of water in different
locations are different
The water used was standardized to be Vienna Standard Mean Ocean
Water (VSMOW), which mixed distilled ocean waters collected from
different spots around the globe.

https://www-s.nist.gov/m-srmors/certificates/8535.pdf

Original container of SMOW-1 water (now

called VSMOW). Note the lower name below
“Do Not Move”. “V. Craig” is Valerie Craig,
wife of Harmon Craig, and she assisted in the
collection and preparation of the RM.
Isotopes of Water
Evaporation and Condensation of Water Molecules
International Kilogram Prototype
Since 1889, kilogram has defined by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM)
and is equal to the mass of the international prototype kilogram (IPK), which is made of 90%
platinum and 10% iridium, in the form of cylinder cube, with diameter and height of about 39 mm
Apart form the IPK, there are 300 replicas made, where each replica is verify with the IPK. Hong
Kong owns K75
 Graph showing change in BIPM prototype
mass artifacts (identified by number) over
time compared to the mass of the IPK

https://www.livescience.com/26017- https://www.nist.gov/si-redefinition/kilogram-
kilogram-gained-weight.html present

There is one problem: the current standard kilogram is losing

weight, about 50 micrograms
New Definition of Kilogram
It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the Planck constant, h, to be 6.626,070,15
10−34 J s, which is equal to kg m2 s−1, where the metre and the second are defined in terms of c and
ΔνCs.
the Planck constant (h), a quantum-mechanical quantity relating a particle’s energy to its
frequency, and, through Einstein’s equation E = mc2, to its mass

Nobel Prize in Physics by Klaus von Klitzing

Practical realization of kilogram (1)
By the use of Kibble Balance

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0026-1394/53/5/A46

https://www.bipm.org/fr/mass-metrology/kibble-balance
Practical realization of kilogram (2)
By the use of silicon-28 sphere, comparing between kilogram and mole…....

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/units-measure-are-getting-fundamental-upgrade
Practical realization of kilogram (2)
Calculating the number of atoms in a 94-mm
diameter sphere, consisting of 99.9995 percent
silicon-28
Silicon spheres whose surfaces are so smooth that
if they were blown up to the size of Earth, the
distance between the tallest mountain and
deepest ocean would be just 3–5 meters (about
10–15 feet)
Mole
Previously mole was defined as the number of carbon-12 (carbon atoms with a total of 12 protons
and neutrons) in 12 grams. That number is equal to about 6.022 x 1023 carbon-12 atoms. This
quantity constitutes one mole
The mole, symbol mol, is the SI unit of amount of substance. One mole contains exactly
6.022,140,76 1023 elementary entities. This number is the fixed numerical value of the Avogadro
constant, NA, when expressed in the unit mol−1 and is called the Avogadro number.
The amount of substance, symbol n, of a system is a measure of the number of specified
elementary entities. An elementary entity may be an atom, a molecule, an ion, an electron, any
other particle or specified group of particles.

Amedeo Avogadro (1776–1856) was a law-trained Italian

scientist. His famous hypothesis that equal volumes of all gases,
under the same temperature and pressure conditions, contain
equal numbers of molecules. The Avogadro constant was
named in his honor.
https://www.nist.gov/si-redefinition/kilogram/kilogram-silicon-
spheres-and-international-avogadro-project
Practical application of the unit Mole
Through the use of certified reference materials (CRM)

https://www-
s.nist.gov/srmors/
certificates/2731.
pdf
Buoyant Force
Differences in density between the standard and the unknown object and air density combine
together to cause significant errors in the weighing process
In practical life, the measurements are performed in the surrounding air environment. Therefore,
the objects participating in the measurement process adhere to the Archimedean principle being
lifted with a force equal to the weight of the displaced volume of air.
The amount of air displaced would reduce the “apparent mass” that a balance measures
Correction of Buoyancy
The “apparent mass” or “conventional mass” of an object is normally defined in terms of “normal
temperature” and “normal air density,” conventionally chosen as 20 C and 1.2 mg cm–3,
respectively.
The density for brass and stainless steel are 8.4 g cm–3 and 8.0 g cm–3 respectively
Can be corrected using the following equation:

" da %
m' $1− '
# dw &
m=
" da %
$1− '
# d&

• m = apparent mass of the object; m = measured mass of the object;

da = density of air (0.0012 g cm–3); dw = density of calibration weights
(e.g. standard mass); d = density of weighed object
Example: Weighing of Water
A chemist weighing 1 liter of water. The chemist would first calibrate the balance with a 1 kg
standard mass (made of stainless steel); then the chemist then weigh the water using the
calibrated balance
Assuming 1 kg mass standard made of stainless steel (i.e. density 8.0 g cm–3) has a volume of 125
cm3. The same mass of water would have a volume approximately 1000 cm3
The standard mass will displace 125 cm3 of air, which will exert a buoyant force of 150 mg (125
cm3 1.2 mg cm–3 of air). However, the water will displace 1000 cm3 air, which will exert a buoyant
force of 1,200 mg (1000 cm3 1.2 mg cm–3)
Thus, the chemist has introduced an error due to buoyant force of 1,050mg if he does not
consider the density difference between two materials
Thermodynamic Temperature
The base unit of thermodynamic temperature is kelvin (K)
Original, 0 C or 273.15 K was defined as the freezing point of water, and 100 C or 373.15K
was defined as the boiling point of water (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lyqFkFsH28)
The kelvin, symbol K, is the SI unit of thermodynamic
temperature. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of
the Boltzmann constant, k, to be 1.380 649 10−23 J K−1, which is
equal to kg m2 s−2 K−1, where the kilogram, metre and second are
defined in terms of h, c and ΔνCs)
Metrology institutes can realise temperature by following the
International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90) by maintaining
the following fixed point standards at :
Triple point of argon (-189.3442 C)
Triple point of mercury (-38.8344 C)
Triple point of water (0.0100 C)
Melting point of gallium (29.7646 C)
Freezing point of indium (156.5985 C)
Freezing point of tin (231.928 C)
Freezing point of zinc (419.527 C)
Freezing point of aluminium (660.323 C)
Freezing point of silver (961.78 C)

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3zP9Rj7lnc)
Type of thermometers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yd0IboA3LE
Thank You