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Re: Mass



Robert Cohen wrote:
(5) Depending on how the NIST experiments turn out, we may
end up defining the standard kilogram as a certain number of
atoms (probably of silicon).


How would we know how many atoms are in the sample? By measuring the
mass?

That would be pretty silly, wouldn't it?

> Volume?

You could answer this yourself pretty easily:
http://www.google.com/search?q=mass+silicon+site%3Anist.gov
which leads immediately to things like
http://physics.nist.gov/Divisions/Div842/Gp5/crystalc.html
and
http://museum.nist.gov/exhibits/ex1/room6b.html

P.S. Does it matter how the atoms are configured?

Well, if they're not configured as a crystal the xray
crystallography might be kinda difficult.