NIST improves accuracy of 'watt balance' method for defining the kilogram

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NIST improves accuracy of 'watt balance' method for defining the kilogram
A leading experimental method for defining the kilogram in terms of properties of nature is now more accurate than ever, scientists at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology reported today. The advance may move the scientific community closer to redefining the kilogram, the only one of the seven basic units of the international measurement system still defined by a physical artifact.


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All News summaries for September 13, 2005

Proposed Particle Help Explains Odd Galactic Photons

1 hour ago | User rating: not rated yet
In 2002, a satellite called INTEGRAL was launched by the European Space Agency with an instrument on board to detect and measure gamma rays from space. Four years later, it yielded some intriguing data: An unusually high ...

Electron microscopy enters the picometer scale

Jul 24, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Jülich scientists have succeeded in precisely measuring atomic spacings down to a few picometres using new methods in ultrahigh-resolution electron microscopy. This makes it possible to find out decisive parameters ...

Revolutionary materials reflect ancient forms

Jul 24, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- Although order is pleasing to the eye, it can quickly become boring. In Islamic architecture therefore, decoration often follows a strict yet aperiodic pattern. Similar structures also form ...

Shielding for ambitious neutron experiment

Jul 24, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
In science fiction stories it is either the inexhaustible energy source of the future or a superweapon of galactic magnitude: antimaterial. In fact, antimaterial can neither be found on Earth nor in space, is extremely complex ...

New Membrane Model May Unlock Secrets of Early-Stage Alzheimer's

Jul 23, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and three collaborating institutions are using a new laboratory model of the membrane surrounding neurons in the brain to study how a protein ...