Kilogram

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Revision as of 21:45, 14 March 2007 by imported>Anthony Argyriou (replace much with information from NIST)
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The kilogram is the SI unit of mass.

At the end of the 18th century, a kilogram was the mass of a cubic decimeter of water. In 1889, the 1st CGPM sanctioned the international prototype of the kilogram, made of platinum-iridium, and declared: This prototype shall henceforth be considered to be the unit of mass.

The 3d CGPM (1901), in a declaration intended to end the ambiguity in popular usage concerning the word "weight," confirmed that:

The kilogram is the unit of mass; it is equal to the mass of the international prototype of the kilogram.