Tomorrow will enter into force the new international unit of weights and measures

The redefinition of the value of the kilogram, the kelvin, the ampere and the mole, agreed last November at the Weights and Measures Conference in Paris, will take effect tomorrow and will be based on the award of A value to a constant of an object, reported the National Institute of Industrial Technology (INTI).

The organization "historic" of this change because it will simultaneously vary four units of measurement. Tomorrow, he will organize a conference on the "science of measurement" to be held from 9 to 13 April in the technological park Miguelete INTI, located in San Martín.

The meeting will focus "on this issue that will be crucial in the future for the precise administration of drugs, the pharmaceutical industry, the measurement of climate change, the computer, the" ". electronics, among many other sectors that operate with great precision, "the agency said on its website.

"All units will be defined on the basis of nature constants, in place of artifacts, material properties, or theoretical unfeasible experiences, as was the case up to now. "explained Héctor Laiz, head of metrology and quality at INTI.

The value of the kilo "was defined by a physical object, a platinum-iridium cylinder, from tomorrow will be based on the badignment of a value to the Planck constant," explained INTI.

What will happen tomorrow "will not affect the scale used by the doctor to weigh a patient or in the butcher's shop when buying a barbecue, but this will have a significant impact on the scientific field, "said the Institute.

He added that "the biggest change will probably be felt by the manufacturers of scientific instruments, who will have to adapt their products to the new measures".

It will also be "essential for better climate change predictions, as more accurate measurements can be made to monitor small temperature variations".

It will be the same for the pharmaceutical industry "which, for example, can accurately define the micrograms of any drug or provide appropriate drug doses for each patient".

According to Mr. Laiz, this change "will also be a challenge for education because we will now have to teach high school students the new definitions of units of measurement".

The INTI explained that the kilogram measurement "will be safer because, for example, it is estimated that the original motif – deposited in Paris – has lost 50 micrograms in a century, probably because of the loss of atoms".

Laiz is the only representative of South America within the International Committee of Weights and Measures in charge of the revision.