News Scientists lose faith in the Kilo

[Access Denied]

Hmm

For reasons that still remain a mystery the cylinder may have shed around 50 micrograms, the equivalent of a small grain of sand.

It couldn't have anything to do with being made of Radioactive material could it? I mean honestly, Plutonium may have a half life of 25,000 years but it WILL degrade and eventually disappear.

Stupid scientists.

Disclaimer: Having done no research other than half remembered chemistry lessons in school I may be wrong =D

 

[Ormorof]

not really that simple in a vacuumed locked system it may decay but it should still have the same mass

the object itself might not but the total of the box should stay the same which is why it is intriguing, where the freaking hell is it going?

also plutonium is a bit of a bizzare metal and is extremely sensitive to changes in temp/pressure, even when in an alloy so who knows, i agree though probably not the most sensible object to use

 

[Raven]

See! If they used a pound then they wouldn't have any problem! These Euros and their fancy pants measurements!

 

[fettoken]

They should try with a cheeseburger from MCD's.

 

[old.Tohtori]

where the freaking hell is it going?

 

[Zenith.UK]

You realise that it's impossible for it to be plutonium-iridium alloy if it was made in 1889?

Pu is a transuranic element... it's synthetic. It doesn't exist in nature. It has only existed since we've been making nuclear piles and reactors.

I think you'll find that it's a PLATINUM-iridium alloy.

 

[DocWolfe]

I think that it's more likely that gravity in the locale of the kilogram changed. Gravity isn't even over the entire planet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_earth

 

[Nate]

I think the important question here is

How heavy is a large grain of sand?