Since the kilogram has a prefix in the the list of SI units would it be wise to redefine the mass of the platinum iridium cylinder at the international bureau of weights and measures as 1g rather than 1kg?
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2Related: Why does the metric system use "kilogram" as a base SI unit? – Níckolas Alves Feb 02 '22 at 07:23
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1But then if there was an absolute uncertainty in measuring the mass of the prototype it would become a 1000-times larger relative error. – ProfRob Feb 02 '22 at 08:36
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@ProfRob - and having a Mg prototype would be awkward... – Jon Custer Feb 02 '22 at 15:32
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And it wouldn't be wise because planes would fall out of the sky, cars would crash etc. just because someone fancied changing the name. See Spinal Tap's version of Stonehenge for a further example of unit mislabelling. – ProfRob Feb 02 '22 at 15:36
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Does this answer your question? Why does the metric system use "kilogram" as a base SI unit? – GiorgioP-DoomsdayClockIsAt-90 Feb 05 '22 at 10:40
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Surely a better way is to give the kilogramme a new name?
This idea is problematic because of, amongst other things, the vast usage of the word kilogramme in scientific and other type of literature, the dependence of other SI units on the kilogramme, and the politics/nationalism of such an idea.
A proposal is that the new name is that the unit is called the giorgi being named after Giovanni Giorgi who proposed the metre-kilogramme-second system of units, on which the SI system is based, in 1901.
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