The kilogram to be redefined using kibble balance in May 2019

130년 만에 바뀌는 'kg 정의'...'키블 저울'로 잰다
The weight of a kilogram is set to be redefined by May 2019.
While it won't have much impact on our everyday life, the redefinition will be crucial for scientists and high tech industries.
Park Se-young has more.
Scientists have come up with a new, more accurate standard for defining the kilogram.
The current kilogram standard is the mass of a cylinder with a height and diameter of just over 39 millimeters made of 90 percent platinum and ten percent iridium.
However, the processes of oxidation and hydrocarbon contamination have added mass to the cylinder over the last 130 years.
The fine change in mass is crucial to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

From next May, the kilogram will be redefined by a new standard maintained by the Kibble balance.
The balance measures the force produced by an electric current flowing through a coil in a magnetic field …that's required to support the weight of a standard kilogram mass.
Because the balance has a fixed value, it can precisely measure the weight of an object.
Korean researchers are working on reducing the measurement uncertainty of the domestically-developed kibble.

"Countries without a standard unit have to go overseas with samples and calibrate the national prototype kilogram. Having a standard implies several advantages like the rapid dissemination of Korean industries."

The change to the standard of mass will be crucial for the semiconductor and pharmaceutical industries, …but researchers say that the change will not have a noticeable effect on our everyday life.
Park Se-young, Arirang News.