Quote:
Originally Posted by Brigham
"...As an exception, the name of the kilogram, which is the base unit of mass, includes the prefix kilo, for historical reasons...."
In other words, "because they got it wrong".
Interesting definition, though. The gram is no longer an SI unit. I didn't know that.
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The gram is as much an SI unit as the millimetre, or the microfarad, as a submultiple of the base unit. (a CGS gram may be different by a few parts per billion, as it's based on the mass of 1cc of water. But the CGS centimetre was defined differently from the SI metre, as well). I do recall a homework question in A level physics (1979), where a mass was given in grams, an object accelerating to so-many cm/sec in so-many seconds, what is the force? I put my answer in dynes, on the basis that the question was clearly in CGS units, I was marked down
It's a bit of an inconsistency, really, in SI, calling the base unit a kilogram. Would have been better calling it something else. Suggestions?
However, on the basis that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, the actual mass that the kilogram is defined to be, is fairly well chosen. (I'd have made the metre a bit smaller, personally, but that's just me.)