Measurement units

 

1.1             Measurement units :

The very first measurement units were those used in barter trade to quantify the amounts being exchanged and to establish clear rules about the relative values of different commodities. Such early systems of measurement were based on whatever was avail[1]able as a measuring unit. For purposes of measuring length, the human torso was a convenient tool, and gave us units of the hand, the foot and the cubit. Although gener[1]ally adequate for barter trade systems, such measurement units are of course imprecise, varying as they do from one person to the next. Therefore, there has been a progressive movement towards measurement units that are defined much more accurately.

 

The first improved measurement unit was a unit of length (the metre) defined as 107 times the polar quadrant of the earth. A platinum bar made to this length was established as a standard of length in the early part of the nineteenth century. This was superseded by a superior quality standard bar in 1889, manufactured from a platinum–iridium alloy. Since that time, technological research has enabled further improvements to be made in the standard used for defining length. Firstly, in 1960, a standard metre was redefined in terms of 1.65076373 ð 106 wavelengths of the radia[1]tion from krypton-86 in vacuum. More recently, in 1983, the metre was redefined yet again as the length of path travelled by light in an interval of 1/299 792 458 seconds. In a similar fashion, standard units for the measurement of other physical quantities have been defined and progressively improved over the years. The latest standards for defining the units used for measuring a range of physical variables are given in Table 1.1.

 

The early establishment of standards for the measurement of physical quantities proceeded in several countries at broadly parallel times, and in consequence, several sets of units emerged for measuring the same physical variable. For instance, length can be measured in yards, metres, or several other units. Apart from the major units of length, subdivisions of standard units exist such as feet, inches, centimetres and millimetres, with a fixed relationship between each fundamental unit and its sub[1]divisions.

Yards, feet and inches belong to the Imperial System of units, which is characterized by having varying and cumbersome multiplication factors relating fundamental units to subdivisions such as 1760 (miles to yards), 3 (yards to feet) and 12 (feet to inches). The metric system is an alternative set of units, which includes for instance the unit of the metre and its centimetre and millimetre subdivisions for measuring length. All multiples and subdivisions of basic metric units are related to the base by factors of ten and such units are therefore much easier to use than Imperial units. However, in the case of derived units such as velocity, the number of alternative ways in which these can be expressed in the metric system can lead to confusion.

 

As a result of this, an internationally agreed set of standard units (SI units or Systemes Internationales d’Unit ` es) has been defined, and strong efforts are being made ´ to encourage the adoption of this system throughout the world. In support of this effort, the SI system of units will be used exclusively in this book. However, it should be noted that the Imperial system is still widely used, particularly in America and Britain. The European Union has just deferred planned legislation to ban the use of Imperial units in Europe in the near future, and the latest proposal is to introduce such legislation to take effect from the year 2010.

 

The full range of fundamental SI measuring units and the further set of units derived from them are given in Table 1.2. Conversion tables relating common Imperial and metric units to their equivalent SI units can also be found in Appendix 1.