A primer on electrical units in the Système International

American Journal of Physics

Volumn 66, Issue 4, 1998, Pages 324-331

  Zimmerman, Neil M ^a  

^a NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0032382809     PISSN: 00029505     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1119/1.18859     Document Type: Article

References (19)

1. Barry N. Taylor, editor, The International System of Units (SI), NIST Spec. Pub. 330 (US GPO, Washington, DC, 1991). The approved translation of the sixth edition of the BIPM publication on SI.
2. Dieter Kind and Terry Quinn, "Metrology: Quo Vadis," IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas. 44(2), 85-89 (1995).
3. Here, by primary standard I mean the single experiment which establishes a particular unit for a particular laboratory; for the same unit, the primary standard may mean different experiments for different laboratories.
4. E. Braun and D. Kind, "Metrology in Electricity," Abh. der Braunschweig. 13, 159-175 (1992). A short paper describing in very simple terms the basis of the calculable capacitor, moving-coil balance, and voltage balance.
5. E. Ambler, "SI units - philosophical basis for the base units," NBS Tech. News Bull. 55(3), 64-69 (1971).
6. B. W. Petley, The Fundamental Physical Constants and the Frontier of Measurement (Hilger, Bristol, 1988). A very readable and enjoyable book, with a lot of detail on fundamental units and constants, and investigations into their possible changes with time.
7. Notations such as "SI volt" or "SI ohm" are to some extent redundant; I use them to emphasize the distinction between, e.g., the volt and practical representations of the volt, such as the JV standard.
8. B. N. Taylor, "Report on the 17th Session of the Consultative Committee on Electricity," J. Res. Natl. Bur. Stand. 92, 55-61 (1987).
9. A. M. Thompson and D. G. Lampard, "A New Theorem in Electrostatics and its Application to Calculable Standards of Capacitance," Nature (London) 177, 888 (1956).
10. Robert D. Cutkosky, "New NBS Measurements of the Absolute Farad and Ohm," IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas. IM-23, 305-309 (1974).
11. K-90.
12. J. P. Eisenstein, "The quantum Hall effect," Am. J. Phys. 61, 179-183 (1993).
13. Robert M. White, "Competitive measures," IEEE Spectr. 30, 29-33 (1993).
14. B. N. Taylor, "Determining the Avogadro Constant from Electrical Measurements," Mertrologia 31, 181-194 (1994). A compendium of proposals and results for replacing the kilogram with electrical measurements; see many references therein.
15. Michel H. Devoret, Daniel Esteve, and Christian Urbina, "Single-electron transfer in metallic nanostructures," Nature (London) 360, 547-553 (1992).
16. Hermann Grabert and Michel H. Devoret, Single Charge Tunneling (Plenum, New York, 1992), Vol. 294.
17. Mark W. Keller, John M. Martinis, Neil M. Zimmerman, and Andrew H. Steinbach, "Accuracy of Electron Counting Using a 7-Junction Electron Pump," Appl. Phys. Lett. 69, 1804-1806 (1996).
18. E. R. Williams, Ruby N. Ghosh, and John M. Martinis, "Measuring the Electron's Charge and the Fine-Structure Constant by Counting Electrons on a Capacitor," J. Res. Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol. 97, 299-302 (1992).
19. Toichiro Kinoshita, "Fine-Structure Constant Obtained from an Improved Calculation of the Electron g-2," IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas. 46, 108-111 (1997).