12 Jun
2007
12 Jun
'07
1:53 p.m.
der Mouse wrote:
Well, it'd be the *mass* of, not the *weight* of. But that aside, I
thought the kilogram was still defined as the mass of a certain piece
of metal kept at the BIPM in S?vres? Wikipedia certainly thinks so
(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilogram)....
I believe that definition (piece of metal) is more recent, while the original
definition from the 1700-or-1800s was
1 litre = volume of 1 cubic decimetre
1 kilogram = mass of 1 litre of water at STP
1000kg/m^3 is approximately the density of water: one gram per
millilitre.
Precisely, even, if memory serves. I believe that the kilogram is
defined as the weight of one litre of water at a certain pressure and
temperature.