A Better Definition of the Kilogram

Ronald F. Fox, Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus
Theodore P. Hill, Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus

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3 pages. Copyright © 2007 by Ronald F. Fox and Theodore P. Hill. The definitive version is available at http://arxiv.org/abs/0709.2576.

NOTE: At the time of publication, the author Theodore P. Hill was not yet affiliated with Cal Poly.

Abstract

Fixing the value of Avogadro's constant, the number of atoms in 12 grams of carbon-12, at exactly 84446886³ would imply that one gram is the mass of exactly 18x14074481³ carbon-12 atoms. This new definition of the gram, and thereby also the kilogram, is precise, elegant and unchanging in time, unlike the current 118-year-old artifact kilogram in Paris and the proposed experimental definitions of the kilogram using man-made silicon spheres or the watt balance apparatus.