# Portal:International System of Units

(Redirected from Portal:SI units)

## Introduction

The International System of Units (SI, abbreviated from the French Système international (d'unités)) is the modern form of the metric system, and is the most widely used system of measurement. It comprises a coherent system of units of measurement built on seven base units, which are the ampere, kelvin, second, metre, kilogram, candela, mole, and a set of twenty prefixes to the unit names and unit symbols that may be used when specifying multiples and fractions of the units. The system also specifies names for 22 derived units, such as lumen and watt, for other common physical quantities.

The base units are derived from invariant constants of nature, such as the speed of light in vacuum and the triple point of water, which can be observed and measured with great accuracy, and one physical artefact. The artefact is the international prototype kilogram, certified in 1889, and consisting of a cylinder of platinum-iridium, which nominally has the same mass as one litre of water at the freezing point. Its stability has been a matter of significant concern, culminating in a revision of the definition of the base units entirely in terms of constants of nature, scheduled to be put into effect on 20 May 2019.

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## In the news

16 November 2018 – Redefinition of SI base units
A new definition of SI units, e.g., the kilogram, the ampere, etc., is decided by the General Conference on Weights and Measures. They are now entirely defined by physical constants, and no longer dependent on any physical object, as was previously the case for the kilogram. (National Physical Laboratory)

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