Two teams of scientists are struggling to create the perfect kilogram. I'm reading about it on the WIRED app: http://wrdm.ag/ff_kilogram(full direct no-redirect link)
Been reading a bit about systems and measurement in general in the pre-modern world lately, and I remember this Wired piece vividly. The incredible richness of detail in the work. Eight digits of precision and then some. Fixed things aren't really fixed until they can be consistently defined, replicated and remade independently of the base item.
And to think how we take it for granted, every time we pick up something from the store, or order a beer. We just assume that we are in fact getting a pint or half a litre. And that the weights in one store matches those in another, not to mention across the five different lanes in each. Technology makes the magic mundane.
Aside;
the wired app is fun to play with, and it helped quite a bit when they added sharing options within the app. Even so, as a print subscriber I mostly download the special content - such as the new digital re-release of the first issue, and the special on Steve Jobs they got out quickly last year.
