
The Avogadro Project - wglb
http://www.acpo.csiro.au/avogadro.htm
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njuyhbgtrfvcdew
I was always under the impression that 1 gram was based on one cubic
centimeter of water, which, in turn, also measures 1 mililiter of volume?

I didn't think the measure of a kilogram was based on an artifact. Is one
CC/ml of water only _approximately_ one gram?

EDIT: Ugh, somewhere along the line it was changed...

    
    
      Originally defined as "the absolute weight of a volume of 
      pure water equal to the cube of the hundredth part of a 
      metre, and at the temperature of melting ice" (later four 
      degrees Celsius), a gram is now defined as one one-
      thousandth of the SI base unit (kilogram), or 1×10^3kg, 
      which itself is defined as being equal to the mass of a 
      physical prototype preserved by the International Bureau 
      of Weights and Measures.
    

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gram)

Who made that decision? When and why?

~~~
lutusp
> Who made that decision? When and why?

As to "why", because the new definition is simpler, more consistent and easier
to explain. By the way, your quotation from the gram definition page contains
a glaring flaw -- the definition is 1 x 10^-3 kg, not 1 x 10^3 kg.

Reasonable people may differ, but to me, saying, "a gram is one thousandth of
a kilogram" is self-evident and simplicity itself.

