On Mon, 9 Jun 2003 21:55:49 -0400, "Kevin  ...
>
>Travers Naran wrote:
>> Kevin Gowen wrote:
>>
>>> Soon yall will have to learn what an ounce is.
>>> http://www.wisinfo.com/thereporter/news/archive/opinion_10640925.shtml
>>>
>>> In 1889, the International Committee on Weights and Measures defined
>>> the kilogram by the weight of a cylinder cast in England of platinum
>>> and iridium. This standard kilogram is secured in a heavily guarded
>>> chateau outside Paris. It is inspected once a year by the only three
>>> people who have keys.
>>> Here’s the problem: Yearly inspections have apparently shown that the
>>> kilogram cylinder has lost weight, approximately 50 micrograms.
>>>That’s less than the weight of a grain of salt, but it’s plenty to
>>> send the world of weights and measures into an epic tizzy.
>>> Quantities of human ingenuity are being expended to re-adjust the
>>> kilo and render it eternally precise. For example, German scientists
>>> are working in Russian nuclear facilities to produce a perfectly
>>> round 1-kilo sphere of silicon. Then, by knowing the number of atoms
>>> in the sphere and their distance from one another ...
>>
>> Except that the Imperial ounce and pound were redefined to correlate
>> to
>> the kilogram.  D'oh!
>
>The last I heard, the Avoirdupois pound was defined as being the weight of
>27.7015 cubic inches of distilled water at 62 degrees F with the barometer
>being at 30 inches. 


1. avoirdupois pound is not an imperial pound
2. your definition is pound-force not pound
3. your definition is /less/ accurate than using a standard object
   (perhaps this would be an interesting homework project for you. Discuss a
practical way of maintaining as constant the 3 variables, volume, temp, and
atmospheric
    pressure. Be sure to mention the effect of measurement on values)
3. how can a measurement system define something without any outside references?

if you don't understand any of the above please refer to an introductory physics
text.


> When did the redefinition you claim take place?
>

Avoirdupois? IIRC in the US 1890s.


"Crispin Sartwell teaches philosophy at the Maryland Institute College of Art."

Christ Gowan, I've only just got my workstation cleaned up from yesterday's
accident.

---
"he [John Ashcroft] deliberately left Jesus out of office prayers to avoid
offending non-Christians."   - Ben Shapiro 27/2/2003