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Measurement Units Standards & Services Department |
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Base Units Definition
Unit |
Symbol |
Definition |
|---|---|---|
meter |
m |
The meter is the length of the path traveled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second |
kilogram |
kg |
The kilogram is the unit of mass, it is equal to the mass of the international prototype of the kilogram |
second |
s |
The second is the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the Cesium 133 atom |
ampere |
A |
The ampere is that constant current which, if maintained in two straight parallel conductors of infinite length, of negligible circular cross-section, and placed 1 meter a part in vacuum, would produce between these conductors a force equal to 2E-7 newton's per meter of length. |
kelvin |
K |
The kelvin , unit of thermodynamic temperature, is the fraction 1/273.16 of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water |
candela |
cd |
The candela is the luminous intensity , in a given direction of a source that emits monochromatic radiation of frequency 540E12 hertz and that has a radiant intensity in that direction of 1/683 watt per steradian |
mole |
mol |
The mole is the amount of substance of a system which contains as many elementary entities as there are atoms in 0.012 kilogram of Carbon 12 . Note: When the mole is used, the elementary entities must be specified and may be atoms, molecules, ions, electrons, other particles, or specified groups of such particles. |