SAIP2015

NON-SPECIALIST LECTURE: South Africa and the International Measurement System: Billion or Trillion?

2 Jul 2015, 09:40

20m

Oral Presentation Track E - Physics Education Edu

Speaker

Dr Louw Wynand (NMISA)

Apply to be<br> considered for a student <br> &nbsp; award (Yes / No)?

No

Abstract content <br> &nbsp; (Max 300 words)<br><a href="http://events.saip.org.za/getFile.py/access?resId=0&materialId=0&confId=34" target="_blank">Formatting &<br>Special chars</a>

The International System of Units (SI), a globally agreed set of units, established a system of quantities and chosen definitions for a set of units that are used worldwide as the preferred language of science and technology. First adopted in 1948 and updated periodically, the SI is to undergo a major change in 2018 when four of the base units, the kilogram, ampere, kelvin and mole will be re-defined. The effect of the re-definition on the local scientific community is explored, as well as a fundamental decision to be taken to use either the Long or the Short scale to express multiples. So how much is a billion, is it one thousand times a million or one million times a million?

Level for award<br>&nbsp;(Hons, MSc, <br> &nbsp; PhD, N/A)?

N/A

Would you like to <br> submit a short paper <br> for the Conference <br> Proceedings (Yes / No)?

Yes

Please indicate whether<br>this abstract may be<br>published online<br>(Yes / No)

Yes