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The new kilogram for new technology

Nature Physics volume 18, page 720 (2022)Cite this article

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The shift of the definition of the kilogram in 2019 away from an artefact to one relying on the Planck constant inspires technological innovation, as Naoki Kuramoto elucidates.

By definition, the mass of the international prototype of the kilogram was exactly 1 kg — without any uncertainty associated. In practice, however, the mass of this — and in fact any — artefact cannot be perfectly stable. Determined 100 years after its manufacturing, the long-term stability of the mass of the international prototype of the kilogram was estimated to be several tens of micrograms, and its inevitable instability cast a shadow on the accuracy of the international mass scale.

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  1. National Metrology Institute of Japan (NMIJ), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan

    Naoki Kuramoto

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  1. Naoki Kuramoto
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Correspondence to Naoki Kuramoto.

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Kuramoto, N. The new kilogram for new technology. Nat. Phys. 18, 720 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01615-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01615-x

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