Yardsticks Almost Vanish As Science Seeks Precision

Reporting in the July 15 issue of the British journal Nature, Dr. Robert D. Stevenson of the University of Massachusetts at Boston and Dr. Richard J. Wasserung of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, say experiments on muscle tissue have shown that animals in general are able to produce about 100 wa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe New York times
Main Author Browne, Malcolm W
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, N.Y New York Times Company 23.08.1993
EditionLate Edition (East Coast)
Subjects
BROWNE, MALCOLM W
Kibble, Bryan
METRIC SYSTEM
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
STANDARDS AND STANDARDIZATION
Taylor, Barry
Watt, James
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
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Summary:Reporting in the July 15 issue of the British journal Nature, Dr. Robert D. Stevenson of the University of Massachusetts at Boston and Dr. Richard J. Wasserung of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, say experiments on muscle tissue have shown that animals in general are able to produce about 100 watts of power with a kilogram of muscle. Allowing for the fact that only certain skeletal muscles of a horse produce useful "horsepower," the scientists' calculation showed that a 600-kilogram horse should be able to produce about 18,000 watts, which is equivalent to 24 horsepower. "There are grounds for hoping that Dr. [Bryan Kibble] will reduce the uncertainty of the value of Planck's Constant to just one part in 10 to the 8th power," Dr. [Barry N. Taylor] said. "This will greatly improve the Avogadro Constant, and, we hope, it could lead to a new kilogram based on the mass of an atom." "No, not really," Dr. Taylor said. "But to improve our measuring systems we have to increase our knowledge of fundamental constants, and that is something that has a significant impact on physics. It's well worth the effort."
ISSN:0362-4331