Remember the joke about how a KG of cotton and a KG of jute weigh the same!
Well; because they do!
But (no but, no blog!); the original KG has more security than even the most secure military facility!
Now of course you have the digital weighing scale but not so long ago every shop had these stone like weights which used to measure the weight!
It was magical seeing the shopkeeper navigate the balance to equal the KG bar!
How the shopkeeper would add a few grains to make it an even Kg and then add some more much to the delight of the buyer! Of course that is just for show! If the balance is hand held, you can always manipulate! In fact you can even manipulate the weights! Normally you need to get an inspection done so that the Kg bar is accurate but then who has the time!
The most interesting ones though were the smaller weights of quarter size! Which is why you normally would even buy stuff in those measurements! In multiples of half or quarter!
You had a similar measure for the liquids which was in liters! Even that was a fascinating experience! The biggest confusion was whether to buy the oil in terms of KG or liter! The liquid oil was bought in liters while the ‘solid’ Ghee or Vanaspati was taken in KG itself!
I used to wonder whey it was like that since I had seen Ghee only as a liquid on my plate! Mom used to heat it and pour it during special functions when we used to have the first course of dal and rice! Just hot ghee salt dal and rice! Heaven!
The KG weight though is actually supposed to be a certified copy of the original KG which has been defined for more than 135 years! This is because Kg is an artificially defined weight! The horse or the elephant may weigh several Kgs! But they do not know that! They may weigh themselves in terms of a banana tree for all they care!
KG is our way of weighing so that we have a uniformity!
So since 1889 the magnitude of the kilogram has been defined as the mass of an object called the international prototype kilogram, often referred to in the professional metrology world as the “IPK”!
The IPK is made of a platinum alloy known as “Pt‑10Ir”, which is 90% platinum and 10% iridium (by mass) and is machined into a right-circular cylinder. The IPK and its six sister copies are stored at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in an environmentally monitored safe in the lower vault located in the basement of the BIPM’s on the outskirts of Paris.
Three independently controlled keys are required to open the vault! Official copies of the IPK were made available to other nations and these are compared and calibrated to the IPK roughly every 40 years!
Then in the year 2019 the whole scenario has changed! Do not worry! You still weigh in KG!
In 2019, the kilogram was redefined based on fundamental physical constants, replacing the IPK as the defining standard.
In 2019, scientists redefined the kilogram using the Planck constant, a fundamental constant in physics. This change was made because the IPK, being a physical object, was susceptible to slight changes in mass over time, even with careful handling and storage! Which means that the official KG may become lighter by a few atoms! This may not affect your weight much but it does have a greater impact on other more accurate measurements!
Which is what makes the redefinition of the kilogram a more stable and accurate standard for mass measurements, not relying on a single physical artifact!
Of course sometimes words are more heavier than the KG! Maybe from a poet like Shailesh Lodha!
Now do not let that ‘weigh’ on your mind!
Shubh ratri!
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