International System of Units

Cover of brochure The International System of Units. The International System of Units [1] (abbreviated SI from the French Systme international d'units[2]) is the modern form of the metric system and is generally a system of units of measurement devised around seven base units and the convenience of the number ten. It is the world's most widely used system of measurement, both in everyday commerce and in science.[3][4][5] The older metric system included several groups of units. The SI was developed in 1960 from the old metre-kilogram-second system, rather than the centimetre-gram-second system, which, in turn, had a few variants. Because the SI is not static, units are created and definitions are modified through international agreement among many nations as the technology of measurement progresses, and as the precision of measurements improves. The system has been nearly globally adopted. Three principal exceptions are Burma (Myanmar), Liberia, and the United States. The United Kingdom has officially adopted the International System of Units but not with the intention of replacing customary measures entirely.

Contents
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1 History 2 Related systems 3 Units 4 Writing unit symbols and the values of quantities 5 Writing the unit names 6 Realisation of units 7 Conversion factors 8 Cultural issues o 8.1 International trade 9 References 10 Further reading 11 See also

12 External links

[edit] History
The metric system was conceived by a group of scientists (among them, Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, who is known as the "father of modern chemistry") who had been commissioned by the assemblee nationale and Louis XVI of France to create a unified and rational system of measures.[6] On 1 August 1793, the National Convention adopted the new decimal metre with a provisional length as well as the other decimal units with preliminary definitions and terms. On 7 April 1795 (Loi du 18 germinal, an III) the terms gramme and kilogramme replaced the former terms gravet (correctly milligrave) and grave. On 10 December 1799 (a month after Napoleon's coup d'tat), the metric system was definitively adopted in France.

Countries by date of metrication The desire for international cooperation on metrology led to the signing in 1875 of the Metre Convention, a treaty which established three international organizations to oversee the keeping of metric standards:

General Conference on Weights and Measures (Confrence gnrale des poids et mesures or CGPM) - a meeting every four to six years of delegates from all member states; International Bureau of Weights and Measures (Bureau international des poids et mesures or BIPM) - an international metrology centre at Svres in France; and International Committee for Weights and Measures (Comit international des poids et mesures or CIPM) - an administrative committee which meets annually at the BIPM.

The history of the metric system has seen a number of variations, whose use has spread around the world, to replace many traditional measurement systems. At the end of World War II a number of different systems of measurement were still in use throughout the world. Some of these systems were metric-system variations, whereas others were based on customary systems. It was recognised that additional steps were needed to promote a worldwide measurement system. As a result the 9th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM), in 1948, asked the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) to conduct an international study of the measurement needs of the scientific, technical, and educational communities.

Based on the findings of this study, the 10th CGPM in 1954 decided that an international system should be derived from six base units to provide for the measurement of temperature and optical radiation in addition to mechanical and electromagnetic quantities. The six base units that were recommended are the metre, kilogram, second, ampere, degree Kelvin (later renamed the kelvin), and the candela. In 1960, the 11th CGPM named the system the International System of Units, abbreviated SI from the French name: Le Systme international d'units. The seventh base unit, the mole, was added in 1971 by the 14th CGPM. One of the CIPM committees, the CCU, has proposed a number of changes to the definitions of the base units used in SI [7]. The CIPM meeting of October 2010 found that the proposal was not fully complete[8], and it is expected that the CGPM will consider the full proposal in 2015.

[edit] Related systems

The definitions of the concepts 'quantity', 'unit', 'dimension' etc. used in measurement, are given in the International Vocabulary of Metrology.[9] The quantities and equations which define the SI units are now referred to as the International System of Quantities (ISQ), and are set out in the ISO/IEC 80000 Quantities and Units. A readable discussion of the present units and standards is found at Brian W. Petley International Union of Pure and Applied Physics I.U.P.A.P.- 39 (2004).

[edit] Units
Main articles: SI base unit, SI derived unit, and SI prefix The International System of Units consists of a set of units together with a set of prefixes. The units are divided into two classesbase units and derived units. There are seven base units, each representing, by convention, different kinds of physical quantities. SI base units[10][11]

Name Unit symbol length mass time

Quantity

Symbol l (a lowercase L) m t

metre m kilogram kg second s

ampere A

electric current

I (a capital i)

kelvin K candela cd

thermodynamic temperature T

luminous intensity amount of substance

Iv (a capital i with lowercase v subscript) n

mole

mol

There are an unlimited number of derived units formed from multiplication and division of the seven base units,[12] for example the SI derived unit of speed is metre per second, m/s. Some derived units have special names; for example, the unit of resistance, the ohm, symbol , is uniquely defined by the relation = m2kgs3A2, which follows from the definition of the quantity electrical resistance. The radian and steradian, once given special status, are now considered derived units.[12] A prefix may be added to a unit to produce a multiple of the original unit. All multiples are integer powers of ten, and beyond a hundred(th) all are integer powers of a thousand. For example, kilodenotes a multiple of a thousand and milli- denotes a multiple of a thousandth; hence there are one thousand millimetres to the metre and one thousand metres to the kilometre. The prefixes are never combined: a millionth of a kilogram is a milligram not a microkilogram.

Standard prefixes for the SI units of measure

Name

deca- hecto- kilo- mega- giga- tera- peta- exa- zetta- yotta-

Multiples Symbol

da

h 102

k 103

M 106

G 109

Y 1024

Factor 100 101

1012 1015

1018 1021

Name

deci- centi- milli- micro- nano- pico- femto- atto- zepto- yocto

Fractions Symbol

n 109

Factor 100 101 102

103 106

1012 1015

1018 1021 1024

In addition to the SI units, there is also a set of non-SI units accepted for use with SI which includes some commonly used non-coherent units such as the litre.

[edit] Writing unit symbols and the values of quantities

The value of a quantity is written as a number followed by a space (representing a multiplication sign) and a unit symbol; e.g., "2.21 kg", "7.3102 m2", "22 K". This rule explicitly includes the percent sign (%). Exceptions are the symbols for plane angular degrees, minutes and seconds (, and ), which are placed immediately after the number with no intervening space.[13][14] Symbols for derived units formed by multiplication are joined with a centre dot () or a nonbreak space, for example, "Nm" or "N m". Symbols for derived units formed by division are joined with a solidus (), or given as a negative exponent. For example, the "metre per second" can be written "ms", "m s1", "ms1" or . Only one solidus should be used; e.g., "kg(ms2)" or "kgm1s2" are acceptable but "kgms2" is ambiguous and unacceptable. Many computer users will type the / character provided on computer keyboards, which in turn produces the Unicode character U+002F, which is named solidus but is distinct from the Unicode solidus character, U+2044. Symbols are mathematical entities, not abbreviations, and do not have an appended period/full stop (.). Symbols are written in upright (Roman) type (m for metres, s for seconds), so as to differentiate from the italic type used for quantities (m for mass, s for displacement). By consensus of international standards bodies, this rule is applied independent of the font used for surrounding text.[15] Symbols for units are written in lower case (e.g., "m", "s", "mol"), except for symbols derived from the name of a person (e.g., "Pa", "Hz", "K" for Pascal, Hertz, Kelvin).[16] o The one exception is the litre, whose original symbol "l" is unsuitably similar to the numeral "1" or the uppercase letter "i" (depending on the typeface used), at least in many English-speaking countries. The American National Institute of Standards and Technology recommends that "L" be used instead, a usage which is common in the US, Canada and Australia (but not elsewhere). This has been accepted as an alternative by the CGPM since 1979. The cursive is occasionally seen, especially in Japan and Greece, but this is not currently recommended by any standards body. For more information, see litre. A prefix is part of the unit, and its symbol is prepended to the unit symbol without a separator (e.g., "k" in "km", "M" in "MPa", "G" in "GHz" and so on). Compound prefixes are not allowed. Symbols of units are not pluralised, for example "25 kg" (not "25 kgs").[15] The 10th resolution of CGPM in 2003 declared that "the symbol for the decimal marker shall be either the point on the line or the comma on the line." In practice, the decimal point is used in English-speaking countries as well as most of Asia and the comma in most continental European languages. Spaces may be used as a thousands separator (1000000) in contrast to commas or periods (1,000,000 or 1.000.000) in order to reduce confusion resulting from the variation between these forms in different countries. In print, the space used for this purpose is typically narrower than that between words (commonly a thin space). Any line-break inside a number, inside a compound unit, or between number and unit should be avoided, but, if necessary, the last-named option should be used.

In Chinese, Japanese, and Korean language computing (CJK), some of the commonly used units, prefix-unit combinations, or unit-exponent combinations have been allocated predefined single characters taking up a full square. Unicode includes these in its CJK Compatibility and Letterlike Symbols subranges for back compatibility, without necessarily recommending future usage. When writing dimensionless quantities, the terms 'ppb' (parts per billion) and 'ppt' (parts per trillion) are recognised as language-dependent terms, since the value of billion and trillion can vary from language to language. SI, therefore, recommends avoiding these terms.[17] However, no alternative is suggested by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM).

[edit] Writing the unit names

Names of units start with a lower-case letter, even when the symbol for the unit begins with a capital letter (e.g., newton, hertz, pascal). This also applies to 'degrees Celsius', since 'degree' is the unit. Names of units are pluralised using the normal English grammar rules,[18][19] for example, "henries" is the plural of "henry".[18]:31 The units lux, hertz, and siemens are exceptions from this rule: they remain the same in singular and plural. The official US spellings for deca, metre, and litre are deka, meter, and liter, respectively.[20]

[edit] Realisation of units

Metrologists carefully distinguish between the definition of a unit and its realisation. The definition of each base unit of the SI is drawn up so that it is unique and provides a sound theoretical basis upon which the most accurate and reproducible measurements can be made. The realisation of the definition of a unit is the procedure by which the definition may be used to establish the value and associated uncertainty of a quantity of the same kind as the unit. A description of how the definitions of some important units are realised in practice is given on the BIPM website.[21] However, "any method consistent with the laws of physics could be used to realise any SI unit."[22] (p. 111).

[edit] Conversion factors

The relationship between the units used in different systems is determined by convention or from the basic definition of the units. Conversion of units from one system to another is accomplished by use of a conversion factor. There are several compilations of conversion factors; see, for example, Appendix B of NIST SP 811.[18]

[edit] Cultural issues

Three nations have not officially adopted the International System of Units as their primary or sole system of measurement: Myanmar (Burma), Liberia, and the United States The near-worldwide adoption of the metric system as a tool of economy and everyday commerce was based to some extent on the lack of customary systems in many countries to adequately describe some concepts, or as a result of an attempt to standardise the many regional variations in the customary system. International factors also affected the adoption of the metric system, as many countries increased their trade. For use in science, it simplifies dealing with very large and small quantities, since it lines up so well with the decimal numeral system. Many units in everyday and scientific use are not derived from the seven SI base units (metre, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, mole, and candela) combined with the SI prefixes. In some cases these deviations have been approved by the BIPM.[23] Some examples include:

The many units of time (minute, min; hour, h; day, d) in use besides the SI second, and are specifically accepted for use according to table 6.[24] The year is specifically not included but has a recommended conversion factor.[25] The Celsius temperature scale; kelvins are rarely employed in everyday use. Electric energy is often billed in kilowatt-hours instead of megajoules. Similarly, battery charge is often measured as milliamperes-hour (mAh) instead of coulombs. The nautical mile and knot (nautical mile per hour) used to measure travel distance and speed of ships and aircraft (1 International nautical mile = 1852 m or approximately 1 minute of latitude). In addition to these, Annex 5 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation permits the "temporary use" of the foot for altitude. Astronomical distances measured in astronomical units, parsecs, and light-years instead of, for example, petametres (a light-year is about 9.461 Pm or about 9461000000000000 m). Atomic scale units used in physics and chemistry, such as the ngstrm, electron volt, atomic mass unit and barn. Some physicists prefer the centimetre-gram-second (CGS) units, or systems based on physical constants, such as Planck units, atomic units, or geometric units. In some countries, the informal cup measurement has become 250 mL. Likewise, a 500 g metric pound is used in many countries. Liquids, especially alcoholic ones, are often sold in units whose origins are historical (for example, pints for beer and cider in glasses in the UK although pint means 568 mL; champagne in Jeroboams in France). A metric mile of 10 km is used in Norway and Sweden. The term metric mile is also used in some English speaking countries for the 1500 m foot race. In the US, blood glucose measurements are recorded in milligrams per decilitre (mg/dL), which would normalise to cg/L; in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Oceania, and Europe, the standard is millimole per litre (mmol/L) or mM (millimolar). Blood pressure and atmospheric pressure are usually measured in mmHg and bars, respectively, instead of Pa.

The fine-tuning that has happened to the metric base-unit definitions over the past 200 years, as experts have tried periodically to find more precise and reproducible methods, does not affect the everyday use of metric units. Since most non-SI units in common use, such as the US customary units, are defined in SI units,[26] any change in the definition of the SI units results in a change of the definition of the older units, as well.

[edit] International trade

One of the European Union's (EU) objectives is the creation of a single market for trade. In order to achieve this objective, the EU standardised on using SI as the legal units of measure. At the time of writing (2009) it had issued two units of measurement directives which catalogued the units of measure that might be used for, amongst other things, trade: the first was Directive 71/354/EEC[27] issued in 1971 which required member states to standardise on SI rather than use the variety of cgs and mks units then in use. The second was Directive 80/181/EEC[28][29][30][31][32] issued in 1979 which replaced the first and which gave the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland a number of derogations from the original directive. The directives gave a derogation from using SI units in areas where other units of measure had either been agreed by international treaty or which were in universal use in worldwide trade. They also permitted the use of supplementary indicators alongside, but not in place of the units catalogued in the directive. In its original form, Directive 80/181/EEC had a cut-off date for the use of such indicators, but with each amendment this date was moved until, in 2009, supplementary indicators have been allowed indefinitely.

[edit] References
1. ^ International Bureau of Weights and Measures (2006), The International System of Units (SI) (8th ed.), ISBN 92-822-2213-6, http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/si_brochure_8_en.pdf 2. ^ Resolution of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures establishing the International System of Units 3. ^ Official BIPM definitions 4. ^ Essentials of the SI: Introduction 5. ^ An extensive presentation of the SI units is maintained on line by NIST, including a diagram of the interrelations between the derived units based upon the SI units. Definitions of the basic units can be found on this site, as well as the CODATA report listing values for special constants such as the electric constant, the magnetic constant and the speed of light, all of which have defined values as a result of the definition of the metre and ampere. In the International System of Units (SI) (BIPM, 2006), the definition of the meter fixes the speed of light in vacuum c0, the definition of the ampere fixes the magnetic constant (also called the permeability of vacuum) 0, and the definition of the mole fixes the molar mass of the carbon 12 atom M(12C) to have the exact values given in the table [Table 1, p.7]. Since the electric constant (also called the permittivity of vacuum) is related to 0 by 0 = 1/0c02, it too is known exactly. CODATA report 6. ^ "The name "kilogram"". http://www1.bipm.org/en/si/history-si/name_kg.html. Retrieved 25 July 2006. 7. ^ Ian Mills (29 September 2010). "Draft Chapter 2 for SI Brochure, following redefinitions of the base units". CCU. http://www.bipm.org/utils/en/pdf/si_brochure_draft_ch2.pdf. Retrieved 2011-01-01. 8. ^ Anon (November 2010). "BIPM Bulletin". BIPM. http://www.bipm.org/utils/en/pdf/BIPM_Bulletin.pdf. Retrieved 2011-01-05. 9. ^ "The International Vocabulary of Metrology (VIM)". http://www.bipm.org/en/publications/guides/vim.html. 10. ^ Barry N. Taylor & Ambler Thompson Ed. (2008). The International System of Units (SI). Gaithersburg, MD: National Institute of Standards and Technology. pp. 23. http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP330/sp330.pdf. Retrieved 18 June 2008.

11. ^ Quantities Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry, IUPAC 12. ^ a b Ambler Thompson and Barry N. Taylor, (2008), Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI), (Special publication 811), Gaithersburg, MD: National Institute of Standards and Technology, p. 3, footnote 2. 13. ^ The International System of Units (SI) (8 ed.). International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM). 2006. p. 133. http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/si_brochure_8_en.pdf. 14. ^ Thompson, A.; Taylor, B. N. (July 2008). "NIST Guide to SI Units Rules and Style Conventions". National Institute of Standards and Technology. http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP811/sec07.html. Retrieved 29 December 2009. 15. ^ a b Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (2006). The International System of Units (SI). 8th ed.. http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/si_brochure_8_en.pdf. Retrieved 13 February 2008. Chapter 5. 16. ^ Ambler Thompson and Barry N. Taylor, (2008), Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI), (Special publication 811), Gaithersburg, MD: National Institute of Standards and Technology, section 6.1.2 17. ^ http://www.bipm.org/en/si/si_brochure/chapter5/5-3-7.html 18. ^ a b c Ambler Thompson & Barry N. Taylor (2008). NIST Special Publication 811: Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI). National Institute of Standards and Technology. http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/pdf/sp811.pdf. Retrieved 18 June 2008. 19. ^ Turner, James M. (9 May 2008). May 2008/pdf/E8-11058.pdf "Interpretation of the International System of Units (the Metric System of Measurement) for the United States". Federal Register (National Archives and Records Administration) 73 (96): 284323. FR Doc number E8-11058. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-16 May 2008/pdf/E8-11058.pdf. Retrieved 28 October 2009. 20. ^ "The International System of Units". pp. iii. http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP330/sp330.pdf. Retrieved 27 May 2008. 21. ^ SI Practical Realization brochure 22. ^ International Bureau of Weights and Measures (2006), The International System of Units (SI) (8th ed.), p. 111, ISBN 92-822-2213-6, http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/si_brochure_8_en.pdf 23. ^ BIPM - Table 8 24. ^ BIPM - Table 6 25. ^ NIST Guide to SI Units - Appendix B9. Conversion Factors 26. ^ Mendenhall, T. C. (1893). "Fundamental Standards of Length and Mass". Reprinted in Barbrow, Louis E. and Judson, Lewis V. (1976). Weights and measures standards of the United States: A brief history (NBS Special Publication 447). Washington D.C.: Superintendent of Documents. Viewed 23 August 2006 at http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP447/ pp. 2829. 27. ^ "Council Directive of 18 October 1971 on the approximation of laws of the member states relating to units of measurement, (71/354/EEC)". http://eurlex.europa.eu/Notice.do?mode=dbl&lang=en&lng1=en,nl&lng2=da,de,el,en,es,fr,it,nl,pt,&val=22924:cs &page=1&hwords=. Retrieved 7 February 2009. 28. ^ The Council of the European Communities (21 December 1979). "Council Directive 80/181/EEC of 20 December 1979 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to Unit of measurement and on the repeal of Directive 71/354/EEC". http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:1980L0181:19791221:EN:PDF. Retrieved 7 February 2009. 29. ^ The Council of the European Communities (20 December 1984). "Council Directive 80/181/EEC of 20 December 1979 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to Unit of measurement and on the repeal of Directive 71/354/EEC". http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:1980L0181:19841220:EN:PDF. Retrieved 7 February 2009. 30. ^ The Council of the European Communities (30 November 1989). "Council Directive 80/181/EEC of 20 December 1979 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to Unit of measurement and on the repeal of Directive 71/354/EEC". http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:1980L0181:19891130:EN:PDF. Retrieved 7 February 2009.

31. ^ The Council of the European Communities (9 February 2000). "Council Directive 80/181/EEC of 20 December 1979 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to Unit of measurement and on the repeal of Directive 71/354/EEC". http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:1980L0181:20000209:EN:PDF. Retrieved 7 February 2009. 32. ^ The Council of the European Communities (27 May 2009). "Council Directive 80/181/EEC of 20 December 1979 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to Unit of measurement and on the repeal of Directive 71/354/EEC". http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:1980L0181:20090527:EN:PDF. Retrieved 14 September 2009.

[edit] Further reading

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (1993). Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry, 2nd edition, Oxford: Blackwell Science. ISBN 0-632-03583-8. Electronic version. Unit Systems in Electromagnetism MW Keller et al. Metrology Triangle Using a Watt Balance, a Calculable Capacitor, and a Single-Electron Tunneling Device

[edit] See also

International Vocabulary of Metrology International System of Quantities SI base units SI prefixes SI derived units Non-SI units accepted for use with the SI

List of international common standards Orders of magnitude Long and short scales Dimensional analysis History of measurement

Organisations Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM) Standards and conventions Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)

CODATA

ISO 80000

[show]vdeSystems of measurement

[edit] External links

Official

BIPM Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (SI maintenance agency) (home page) o BIPM brochure (SI reference) ISO 80000-1:2009 Quantities and units -- Part 1: General NIST Official Publications o NIST Special Publication 330, 2008 Edition: The International System of Units (SI) o NIST Special Pub 814: Interpretation of the SI for the United States and Federal Government Metric Conversion Policy Weights and Measures Act, Canada IEEE/ASTM SI 10-2002 Standard for Use of the International System of Units (SI): The Modern Metric System (ANSI approved, joint IEEE/ASTM standard) Rules for SAE Use of SI (Metric) Units National Physical Laboratory, UK

Information

International System of Units at the Open Directory Project EngNet Metric Conversion Chart Online Categorised Metric Conversion Calculator U.S. Metric Association. 2008. A Practical Guide to the International System of Units

History

LaTeX SIunits package manual gives a historical background to the SI system.

Research

The metrological triangle Recommendation of ICWM 1 (CI-2005)

Pro-metric advocacy groups

The UK Metric Association The US Metric Association Canadian Metric Association Metrication US

Pro-customary measures pressure groups

Pro-customary measures groups at the Open Directory Project