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The right measure

The right measure the world has been calculating the mass of the kilogramme wrongly. The error would seem insignificant to a common person, but it is important for scientists, as they are left paralysed without precise values. But work done at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, France, and the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, has identified the correct mass.

The institutes' scientists measured the mass by looking at the density of air, as the two are related by air buoyancy. Two objects of the same mass weigh the same in a vacuum, but air buoys up some objects slightly more than the others. Mass metrologists use an equation to make adjustments for the effect of air buoyancy, which essentially includes a parameter for the content of argon

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