International Bureau of Weights and Measures

INTRODUCTION
The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (French: Bureau international des poids et mesures), is an international standards organisation, one of three such organisations established to maintain the International System of Units (SI) under the terms of the Metre Convention (Convention du Mtre). The organisation is usually referred to by its French initialism, BIPM.

HISTORY
The BIPM was created on 20 May 1875, following the signing of the Metre Convention, a treaty among 51 nations (as of August 2008).

FUNCTIONS
Under the authority of the Metric Convention, the BIPM helps to ensure uniformity of SI weights and measures around the world. It does so through a series of consultative committees, whose members are the national metrology laboratories of the Convention's member states, and through its own laboratory work. The BIPM carries out measurement-related research. It takes part in and organises international comparisons of national measurement standards and performs calibrations for member states.

FUNCTIONS
The BIPM has an important role in maintaining accurate worldwide time of day. It combines, analyses, and averages the official atomic time standards of member nations around the world to create a single, official Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The BIPM is also the keeper of the international prototype of the kilogram.

PROTOTYPES
The International Prototype of the Kilogram, the sole remaining physical prototype of an SI unit, is kept at the Bureau, as well the International Prototype of the Meter. Since 1985 the Bureau has also been responsible for maintaining Atomic Time.

BASE UNITS
LENGTH: METRE Since 1983 the metre has been defined as the distance travelled by light in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 second. MASS: KILOGRAM The standard for the unit of mass, the kilogram, is a cylinder of platinum-iridium alloy kept by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, located in Svres, near Paris. A duplicate in the custody of the National Institute of Standards and Technology serves as the mass standard for the United States.

BASE UNITS
The kilogram is the only base unit still defined by an artifact. However, in 1989 it was discovered that the prototype kept at Svres was 50 micrograms lighter than other copies of the standard kilogram. To avoid the problem of having the kilogram defined by an object with a changing mass, the CGPM in 2011 agreed to a proposal to begin to redefine the kilogram not by a physical artifact but by a fundamental physical constant. The constant chosen was Plancks constant, which was defined to be equal to 6.6260693 1034 joule second. One joule is equal to one kilogram times metre squared per second squared. Since the second and the metre were already defined in terms of the frequency of a spectral line of cesium and the speed of light, respectively, the kilogram would then be determined by accurate measurements of Plancks constant.

BASE UNITS
TIME: SECOND The second is defined as the duration of 9,192,631,770 cycles of the radiation associated with a specified transition, or change in energy level, of the cesium-133 atom. ELECTRIC CURRENT: AMPERE The ampere is defined as the magnitude of the current that, when flowing through each of two long parallel wires separated by one metre in free space, results in a force between the two wires (due to their magnetic fields) of 2 107 newton (the newton is a unit of force equal to about 0.2 pound) for each metre of length. However, in 2011 the CGPM agreed to a proposal to begin to redefine the ampere such that the elementary charge was equal to 1.60217653 1019 coulomb.

BASE UNITS
THERMODYNAMIC TEMPERATURE: KELVIN The thermodynamic, or Kelvin, scale of temperature used in SI has its origin or zero point at absolute zero and has a fixed point at the triple point of water (the temperature and pressure at which ice, liquid water, and water vapour are in equilibrium), defined as 273.16 kelvins. The Celsius temperature scale is derived from the Kelvin scale. The triple point is defined as 0.01 degree on the Celsius scale, which is approximately 32.02 degrees on the Fahrenheit temperature scale. However, in 2011 the CGPM agreed to a proposal to begin to redefine the kelvin such that Boltzmanns constant was equal to 1.3806505 1023 joule per kelvin.

BASE UNITS
AMOUNT OF SUBSTANCE: MOLE The mole is defined as the amount of substance containing the same number of chemical units (atoms, molecules, ions, electrons, or other specified entities or groups of entities) as exactly 12 grams of carbon-12. However, in 2011 the CGPM agreed to a proposal to begin to redefine the mole such that the Avogadro constant was equal to 6.0221415 1023 per mole. LIGHT (LUMINOUS) INTENSITY: CANDELA The candela is defined as the luminous intensity in a given direction of a source that emits monochromatic radiation at a frequency of 540 1012 hertz and that has a radiant intensity in the same direction of 1/683 watt per steradian (unit solid angle).

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