& fatter?
OT Has the Earth gained more mass or has the gravitational constant altered?
Jan 28, 2020
Last reply: 6 years ago
40 Replies
Follow replies to this discussion?
First reply
As part of re-establishment of our sovereignty, the kilogram is being redefined based on a lump metal somewhere in London. (Instead of Paris - or whatever esoteric basis the rest of the world are switching over to.) You just got caught out by the change.
Read the full replyInformation here may be outdated?
Should all be good by Saturday morning then?
GF?
;-D
It's just the wall chaser I used today feels heavier than when I last used it and my weighing scales are playing up?
Is anyone else suffering from this gravitational/time distortion?
I too, am getting older... ;)
Inches have increased in size from 2.54cm.
I think it's just a temporary gravity surge.
Waist inches have increased.
Trouser inches have decreased.
Owain
The Earth sucks more these days.
Its quite common after Christmas and new year I imagine.
Brian
As part of re-establishment of our sovereignty, the kilogram is being redefined based on a lump metal somewhere in London. (Instead of Paris - or whatever esoteric basis the rest of the world are switching over to.) You just got caught out by the change.
Are they spring/electronic or the kind with actual weights? If a 1kg weight weighs more on an electronic scale then the gravitational acceleration of Earth has changed.
(I always used to be annoyed when they quoted it on exam papers (981 cms-2 in those cgs days), as I would always be able to remember that but not all the formulae. maybe they wanted to cater for Martian pupils.)
The lump of metal in Paris is no longer the standard (it kept changing a little, which is obviously not good!) I think the standard now is defined as the force applied by a magnetic field created by a fixed current or something like that - which makes is measurable from fundamental units rather than a somewhat variable lump of metal.
SteveW
Total drivel. How do you measure the current?
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No lumps of metal any more ... but it does depend on a physical constant named after a German. Is that better than depending on the French? :-)
#Paul
That question is indeed total drivel. Go see how a Kibble balance (previously Watt balance) works.
They used a Kibble balance as you describe to measure (and fix) the planck constant, then the kilo was redefined as a number derived from the physical constants
speed of light squared / (planck constant * frequency of caesium atom)
299792458^2 / (6.62607015*10^-34 * 9192631770)
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IMO a brilliant, tolerant German thinker is incomparably better than an unthinking French lump.
The earth does indeed gain more weight due to collecting meteorites and interstellar dust - about 45,000 tons a year. You're unlikely to notice unless it all arrived at once in your general vicinity.
On the other hand the earth also loses 100,000 tons a year, so a net loss overall. So things should be getting lighter, not heavier.
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