CHEMICAL OCEANOGRAPHY

ESSAY

“SI UNITS”

BY: ARCELIA HAYLEM PORTILLA DIAZ

TEACHER:

PhD. FRANKLIN ISAAC ORMAZA GONZÁLEZ

2019-IS
 Many years ago the human being as he developed his intellectual capacity, felt the
need to measure what was around him. Before discovering any system of measurement,
people used the human morphology as the foot, the hand, the fingers, or the palms to know
how much, for example in the book of Genesis, certain dimensions for the length of the ark
are mentioned as three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits and its height thirty cubits.
(Valera, 1960) However, this essay will deal with a brief summary of the history of the
international system of units, their units of measure, multiples and submultiples and how this
system is useful today.

It is this need to explore new territories and to seek better living conditions, which led the
human being to measure distances taking as reference the solar days. It is interesting to know
that 2,500 years A.C. in the Near East there are some plans and sketched maps. Likewise, in
order to carry out commercial exchanges, it was necessary to know the exact quantity of the
product that was intended to be exchanged, thus initiating measurements in food products and
valuables such as gold and silver. It is estimated that the beginnings of the balance go back to
the year 5,000 A.C. in Mesopotamia and Egypt they begin to be used in around 3,000 B.C. its
values being multiples of a common unit: the weight of grain of wheat. It is possible that the
use of the weights for the measurement was after the use of the grain weight. Greek science,
from the year 500 AC. needed precision instruments to determine the purity of precious
metals. From the 8th century, the Arabs improved the design of scale. In Europe since the 12 th
century, they learned to make scales through old treatises and they were simpler scales used
in the High Middle Ages. (Hebra, 2003) In the ancient civilizations to measure time, the lunar
calendar was used, since the orbit of the moon marked the transitions between months, and
after 12 months, there was talk of 1 year. In ancient Egypt appeared the first solar calendars
where the movement of the sun was used as value of time measurement. Then in the Roman
Empire, there were already 304 days arranged in 10 months, and they used on more months
every certain year to adjust the time. Then Julian calendar appeared in allusion to Julio Cesar,
which divided the year into 365 days and 12 months. After several temporary imbalances, the
Gregorian calendar was created in allusion to Pope Gregory XVIII, and in which the leap
years were multiples of 4, except for the multiples of 100 years, thus achieving compensation
for temporary imbalance. It took many years for a standard measurement system to be
globalized.

The Decimal Metric System that was created in France at the end of the eighteenth century is
used by almost all countries except for the Unites States, Lyberia and Myanmar. Before the
French revolution, it is estimated that 250,000 units of different weights and measures are
used in France. (Ramani, 2018) The first steps to determine the standard measure of the
metro and kilogram were by using two platforms of platinum on 22 June 1799. After in 1832,
Gauss was the first to make absolute measurements of the field magnetic in terms of a
decimal system based on the three mechanical units millimeter, gram and second for
respectively the quantities, length, dough and time. Later years, Gauss and Weber expanded
these measurements to include electrical phenomena. In 1860 Maxwell and Thompson
thought the British Association for the Advancement of Science BAAS (now BSA) raised the
requirement of a coherent system of units, with base units and derived units. In 1874 the
BAAS introduced the CGS system, with three-dimensional units based on three mechanical
units such as the centimeter, gram and second, using prefixes ranging from micro to mega to
express multiples and decimal submultiples. (BIPM, 2019) The system was not consistent for
the fields of electricity and magnetism, so that in the decade of 1880, the BAAS and the
International Electricity Congress approved another set of mutually coherent units such as the
OHM for electrical resistance, the voltage for the electromotive force, and the Ampere for
electrical current. On May 20, 1875 the BIPM created the Metre Convention, where after the
signing was established, the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures CGPM and CIPM
initiated the work to establish new international prototypes for the metre and kilogram. In
1889, the 1st CGPM sanctioned the international prototypes for the metre and kilogram. A
new MKS system is established whose base units were metre, kilogram and second. In 1901,
Giorgi showed that it is possible to combine the mechanical units of this metre-kilogram-
second system with practical electrical units to form a single coherent four dimensions,
rewriting the equations that occur in electromagnetism in the so-called rationalized form.
After the revision of measurement convention by the 6th CGPM in 1921, the BIPM reached
more responsibilities in the area of physics and the creation of Consultative Committee for
Electricity CCE (now CCEM) by the 7th CGPM in 1927, after several discussions to Giorgi’s
proposal, the CGE recommended, in 1939 the adoption of a four-dimensional system based
on the metre, the kilogram, the second and the ampere, a proposal approved by the CIPM in
1946. ( United States. National Bureau of Standards, 1932) In 1948 the BIPM carried out an
international investigation and in 1954 the 10th CGPM approved that the ampere, the kelvin
and the candela were introduced as base units of the electric current, the thermodynamic
temperature and the luminous intensity. In 1960 the 11th CGPM gave the system the name of
the International System of Units (SI), and in 1971 the 14th CGPM completed the SI adding
to its current version a mole as a base unit for the quantity of substance, thus leaving a total of
seven base units. (BIPM, 2019)

The International System of Units is a modern version of the metric system; which defines
length in meters, time in seconds and mass in kilograms. The unit of force called Newton is
equal to the force required to give 1 kilogram of mass an acceleration of 1 meter per second
squared. However, in the system of units commonly used in the United States, the length is
measured in feet, the time in seconds and the force in pounds. The mass unit called slug is
equal to the amount of mater accelerated to 1 foot per second squared when subjected to a
force of 1 pound. (Fowler, 2008) Time is familiar our lives are measured by it. The daily
cycles of light and darkness and the hours, minutes, and seconds measured by our clocks and
watches give us an intuitive notion of time. Time is measured by the intervals between
repeatable events, such as the swings of a clock pendulum or the vibrations of a quartz crystal
in a watch. In both SI units and U.S. Customary units, the unit of time is the second. The
minute, hour and day are also frequently used. (Fowler, 2008) ¿How we define each one of
the base units? Well the length will be measured in meters unit, which is defined as the path
length traveled in the vacuum by the light during a time of 1/299,792,458 of a second. The
mass is measured in kilogram unit, and is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of
Planck constant (h) at 6, 62607014x10-34 J.s that its unit equal to kg.m2.s-1. The time is
measured in second unit, and it is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the cesium
frequency, the hyperfine transition frequency in undisturbed ground state of the cesium-133
atom, to be 9,192,631,770 when expressed in the unit Hz, which is equal to s-1. The electric
current is measured in Ampere unit, and it is defined by taking fixed numerical value of the
elementary charge of electron to be 1,602 176 34x10-19 when expressed in the unit C which is
equal to A.s. The thermodynamic temperature is measured in Kelvin unit, and it is defined by
taking fixed numerical value of the Boltzmann constant k to be 1, 380 649x10-23 J.K-1. The
amount of substance is measured in mole unit, and it is defined by taking fixed numerical
value of the Avogadro constant NA, when expressed in the unit mol-1 and is called the
Avogadro number, the amount of substance of a system is a measure of the number of
specified elementary entities, and each elementary entity may be an atom, a molecule, an ion,
an electron or any other particle or specified group of particles. The luminous intensity in a
given direction is measured in candela unit, and it is defined by taking the fixed numerical
value of the luminous efficacy of monochromatic radiation of frequency 540x1012 Hz, Kcd, to
be 683 when expressed in unit lmW-1, which is equal to cd.sr.W-1 or cd.sr.kg-1.m-2.s3. (BIPM,
2019) When a numerical quantity is very large or very small, the units used to define its size
can be modified by using a prefix. For example, for larger quantities we will use prefixes
Giga (G), Mega (M) and kilo (k), each corresponding to a base 10 raised to a number whose
multiple would be 1000000000, 1000000, 1000 respectively. And for smaller quantities,
prefixes such as mili (m), micro (μ) and nano (n) will be used, which also corresponds to a
base 10 raised to a number whose submultiple is 0.001, 0.000001, 0.000000001. (Hibbeler,
2010) There are some rules to properly use the different SI symbols among which, the
quantities defined by several units that are multiples of other are separated by a point to
avoid confusion with the prefix notation (example, N= kg.m/s2= kg.m.s-2) in this case m.s
means meter per second and ms represents mili-second. To represent the exponential powers
of a unit that has a prefix, these refer to both, the unit and its prefix (example, μN 2= (μN) 2=
μN.μN), remember that mm2 represents mm.mm. With the exception of the kilogram base
unit, it is better to avoid using prefixes in the denominator of the compound units, for
example, not to writ N/mm, choose kN/m; likewise m/mg should be written as Mm/kg. To
perform the calculations, it is better to represent the numbers in terms of their base or derived
units by converting all prefixes to powers of 10. In this way the final result can be expressed
with a single prefix. (Hibbeler, 2010) There are also units of angular measures that both the
SI and the US customary system follow, this unit of measure is given in radians, and is
defined as a plane angle that having its vertex in the center of a circle, corresponds to an arc
of length equal to the radius of the circumference (Fowler, 2008). Both systems of units have
conversion units that allow values to be carried between each of their units, for example, in
certain physical problems we can find data whose metric units are different system than SI,
then when developing a calculation of unit conversion we can go from that unknown system
to a more general system like SI. When such cases are presented, conversion tables have been
developed where we can know how much each unit is equivalent, for example: 1 mile is
equivalent to 5280 feet, and 1 foot is equivalent to 0, 3048 meters. In 2018 a review of the SI
was made, and the definitions of four basics SI units were changed: the kilogram, the ampere,
the kelvin and the mole. It new definitions are based on the numerical values of the Planck
constant (h), the elementary charge (e), the Boltzmann constant (k) and the Avogadro
constant (NA) respectively. And the definitions of seven basic units of the SI can be expressed
in a uniform way today by means of formulation of the explicit constant. (BIPM, 2019)

While it is true, this measurement system is useful for various activities, and we could think
that we are safe to use it and that we should not worry about making mistakes, but it is not so,
as engineers we must be aware that these units are vital when carrying out any project, any
misunderstanding or misuse of these units can end the lives of thousands people, or very
expensive monetary losses. In the United States a NASA project made an accident, where a
satellite ¨Mars Climate¨ crashed (Valenzuela, 1999), but the accident was caused by
translation error between units, because the laboratory in charge of programming the
navigation system works in units of SI, while the laboratory that built the satellite did so in
U.S. Customary units, then there was an error in calculations. In my opinion, this
International System of metric units is a universal language to be able to understand the
expressions used by engineers, scientists, etc. when working together, as interdisciplinary
groups. Handling these units is what we learnt in school, high school, and university, and not
only we apply it for those circumstances, but also in life projects, for example, as
oceanographers, we need to manage these units in areas such as physical, biological and
chemical oceanography. When we study the ocean, and try to perform a mathematical
representation for post-analysis, we must to take into account the units in which we will
represent the results that in turn are understood in different countries. It is evident that the
development of the intellectual thought of the human being is reflected in what we currently
manage to consider a measure of length, mass, etc. that is why the BIPM conducts research
and form time to time metrologies meet to evaluate each fundamental basis of measurement
according to physical, chemical and contemporary mathematical studies. Nowadays it is a
fact that the kilogram has been reevaluated because the platinum block that was used to
establish this unit is wearing out, and for this reason it has now been redefined as the amount
of light, equivalent to the mass of a number of photons 1,4755214x1040 of a particular
frequently.

In conclusion, the SI is influenced by the development of knowledge, and the sciences of

study, allowing in turn its modification when the level of development is higher, as happened
with the kilogram that is why great civilizations were able to develop new technologies in
their heyday. We must to learn from those changes that were milestones in history, both from
its positive side and from its mistakes. I think that SI units link the definitions to the
fundamentals constants of physics and not to material objects. Some definitions are not based
on physical constants, and these are not 100% reliable. With the new system there will be
more precision and then a positive change. In my opinion, this system will continue to be
accepted unless there are political differences that prevent its adoption, as in the case of
Unites States, which could be said colloquially, is a hard nut to crack. Its pride has kept it
with its system, and has led international companies to take the lead in the export of products.
Ecuador is one of the countries whose system of units of measurement follows the guidelines
of the international system, allowing us to carry out projects, research and even develop
products as measured in any of the seven basic units, whether in the development of
automotive industry, electricity, and the management of resources that our country possesses.
Finally, to get to understand with the different countries that adopt this system it is preferable
to handle our different types of measurements with the units of international system, and
learn their derives units in addition to their submultiples and multiples, thus avoiding errors
that may cost us some value monetary or human.
References:
United States. National Bureau of Standards. (1932). The International Metric System of Weights and
Measures: Issued May 26, 1932. Pensilvania : U.S. Government Printing Office.

BIPM. (2019, Mayo 25). Breau International des Poids et Mesures. Retrieved from Breau
International des Poids et Mesures: https://www.bipm.org/en/measurement-units/history-
si/

Fowler, A. B. (2008). International System of Units. In A. B. Fowler, Engineering Mechanics Static (pp.
7-9). New Jersey: Pearson Pretince Hall.

Hebra, A. (2003). Measure for Measure: The Story of Imperial, Metric, and Other Units. Baltimore,
Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Hibbeler, R. C. (2010). Measurement Units. In R. C. Hibbeler, Engineering Mechanics- Static (pp. 7-

10). Mexico: PEARSON Education.

Ramani, M. (2018, Octubre 17). BBC, News, Mundo. Retrieved from La fascinante historia de cómo
Francia creó el sistema métrico decimal y está por redefinir el peso de un kilogramo:
https://www.bbc.com/mundo/vert-tra-45845628

Valenzuela, J. (1999, Octubre 2). La "Mars Climate" se estrelló en Marte porque la NASA no tradujo
kilómetros a millas. El Pais.

Valera, C. d. (1960). Génesis. Sociedades Biblicas Unidas.