Mexico, Nov. 26 (Notimex).- Experts from the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (Cinvestav, for its acronym in Spanish) participated in the twenty-sixth General Conference on Weights and Measures, in which scientists from around the world redefined four of its seven units, achieving a higher level of accuracy. The changes will take effect on May 20, 2019, International Metrology Day and Anniversary of the Metro Treaty established in 1875. "The benefits of this decision will permeate, at the time, in international trade, the high-tech industry, health, environmental protection, as well as in basic science," said Mauricio López Romero, director of Cinvestav, Unidad Querétaro In a statement, that center reported the assistance of the Mexican scientist, also National Prize of Sciences and Arts, in addition to Héctor Nava Jaimes, former general director of Cinvestav, as part of the participating Mexican delegation. As happened with the unit of time (the second), which in 1967 ceased to be defined in astronomical terms to be, from that year, established in terms of the energy structure of the atom of Cesium-133, now the unit of mass, the kilogram; the unit of temperature, the kelvin, and the unit of electric current, the ampere, will be defined in terms of fundamental constants of nature. López Romero explained that although at the scientific level, the redefinition of the International System of Units in terms of fundamental constants adds a greater level of accuracy to the materialization of the base units, the impact of this redefinition on the bulk of the measurement activity in society and in the industry will not have, for the moment, an appreciable impact. However, he said, in the future, the measurements in the technology-based industry will be favorably impacted. The kilogram receives special attention because it is the last fundamental unit whose definition still depends on a physical object, since it represents the abandonment, after 129 years of use, of the International Kilogram Prototype (IPK), an irided platinum cylinder protected by the Office International Weights and Measures (BIPM), in Sèvres, France. With these redefinitions and those corresponding to the unit of time (the second), the unit of length (the meter) and the unit of light intensity (the candela), the International System of units will be based entirely on fundamental constants of nature. For the director of the Cinvestav, Querétaro campus, the importance of this decision lies precisely in the fact that the International System of units serves to harmonize measurements at the international level, favoring the production of goods and services of higher quality, in addition to facilitating the transit of goods across borders. NTX/NTX/MSG/JCG
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