SI units

How the values of the SI units

are maintained.

The procedure for creating

definitions
The value of a base unit must not
change, it must remain constant
throughout time and space.

Time
Time is one of the most fundamental of
measurements, its SI unit is the second.
Previously, the second was defined in terms of
the rotation of the Earth as 1/86,400 of a mean
solar day.
This definition could not last long as the period
of the earths rotation is slowly decreasing.
The definition of a second is currently defined
as 9,192,631,770 transitions within a cesium133 atom.

Length
The base unit of length is the metre
The metre was previously defined as the
one ten-millionth of the distance from the
Earth's equator to the North Pole.
The metre has now been defined as the
length of the path travelled by light in a
vacuum in1/299,792,458of a second
As a consequence the speed of light is now
exactly 299,792,458 metres per second

Temperature
The base unit of temperature is the kelvin
The kelvin is defined as the fraction
1273.16 of the thermodynamic
temperature of the triple point of water.
This is the only definition of the kelvin
because it is a recent unit. Before kelvin
Celsius and Fahrenheit were used.
the triple point of a substance is the
temperature and pressure at which the
three phases of that substance coexist.

Electric current
The unit of electric current is the
Ampere
The ampere is the defined as the
current required to produce an
attractive force of 2107 N
between 2 one-dimensional parallel
wires of infinite length 1 m apart in a
vacuum.

Amount of substance
The unit of this measurement is the mole
1 mole has been defined as being equal the
number of atoms present in 0.012 kg of carbon12
1 mole has a value of ~6.022141791023
October 23 is calledMole Day.It is an informal
holiday in honor of the unit among chemists in
North America. The date is derived from
Avogadro's number, which is approximately
6.0221023. It starts at 6:02 a.m. and ends at
6:02 p.m.

Luminous intensity
The base unit for this measurement
is the candela
The candela is the luminous
intensity, in a given direction, of a
source that emits monochromatic
radiation of frequency
5401012hertzand that has
aradiant intensityin that direction
of1683wattpersteradian.

Mass
The base unit of mass is the
kilogram
The kilogram is defined as the mass
of International Prototype of the
Kilogram(IPK)
The IPK is made of a platinum alloy
known as Pt10Ir, which is 90%
platinum and 10% iridium (by mass)
and is machined into a right-circular
cylinder (height = diameter) of 39.17

More on the kilogram

The kilogram is the only SI unit still
defined by an artifact
Any changes in the IPK's mass over
time can be deduced by comparing
its mass to that of its official copies
stored throughout the world
The mass of the IPK and its copies
have been slowly drifting apart.

Negative effects of the IPKs

instability
The stability of the IPK is crucial because
the kilogram underpins much of the SI
system of measurement as it is currently
defined and structured.
The ampere is defined relative to the
newton, and ultimately, the kilogram. With
the magnitude of the primary units of
electricity thus determined by the kilogram,
so too follow many others; namely, the
coulomb, volt, tesla, and weber