Shrinking kilogram bewilders physicists

Associated Press | Sep. 12, 2007 | JAMEY KEATEN

[decimon]

So it is global warming?

[jdub]

gravity was weak that day.

[JRios1968]

Quick! Someone get Algore!!!

[decimon]

Quick! Someone get Algore!!!

He could use the weight loss.

[spunkets]

"So it is global warming?"

Nah. Processing...

[Ramius]

The Pt-Ir alloy has a stable crystal structure. 50 µg of mass is worth 4.5*109J of energy. An entropy change is a configurational energy change at some temp T. See the problem?

uh... no..? :-)

[FreeAtlanta]

Only if they can find a way to blame humanity, cripple capitalism while sucking up tons of money for a handfull of left-wingers.

[The Electrician]

It must be due to 'shrinkage'...

 

Jerry and George talking in Jerry's room.

George: Did she do it on purpose?

Jerry: It was my fault, I told her the wrong door.

George: I was supposed to see her. She wasn't supposed to see me.

Jerry: So what?

George: Well ordinarily I wouldn't mind. But...

Jerry: But...

George: Well I just got back from swimming in the pool. And the water was cold...

Jerry: Oh... You mean... shrinkage.

George: Yes. Significant shrinkage!

Jerry: So you feel you were short changed.

George: Yes! I mean, if she thinks that's me she's under a complete misapprehension. That was not me, Jerry. That was not me.

Jerry: Well, so what's the difference?

George: What if she discusses it with Jane?

Jerry: Oh, she's not gonna tell Jane.

George: How do you know?

Jerry: Women aren't like us.

George: They're worse! They're much worse than us, they talk about everything! Couldn't you at least tell her about the shrinkage factor?

Jerry: No, I'm not gonna tell her about your shrinkage. Besides, I think women know about shrinkage.

George: How do women know about shrinkage? (They see Elaine walking down the hall) Elaine! Get! (She enters) Do women know about shrinkage?

Elaine: What do you mean, like laundry?

George: No.

Jerry: Like when a man goes swimming... afterwards...

Elaine: It shrinks?

Jerry: Like a frightened turtle!

Elaine: Why does it shrink?

George: It just does.

Elaine: I don't know how you guys walk around with those things.

[Vroomfondel]

Local gravity may have changed slightly..............

Hmm. Interesting point. There's a standard kilogram locked away in a box, but how do you lock away a standard g?

[spunkets]

Entropy is defined as S = k*ln(Ω). Where k is Boltzman's constant and Ω is the number of ways the Pt and Ir atoms can be arranged in the crystal. The Pt-Ir alloy has a regular crystal structure where the atoms appear in the lattice in a fairly regular way. They can migrate and diffuse around somewhat, but you'll never get 4.5*10⁹J out of that. That's the amount of energy that must be lost to account for the loss of 50 µg, from E=mc². That's a huge amount of energy. That's the equivalent of the output of a 10kW generator for 5.2 days.

I suspect witches. ...or a magnetic effect from absorbed hydrogen. Don't know yet boss...

[Bender2]

Yet down through all the ages... the foot has stayed the same!

Gadzooks! Now that... scares me

[mikrofon]

The meter was once defined as roughly the distance between
scratches on a bar, a far cry from today's high-tech standard
involving the distance that light travels in a vacuum

[decimon]

Arch, is that you?

[decimon]

Duh, lights are in refrigerators, not vacuums.

[Bender2]

Re: Arch, is that you?

Is that you... Meathead?

[Hot Tabasco]

Doesn’t everybody’s Gram get smaller

Cold showers is one shrink factor.......

[Duke Nukum]

Not even the Metric System wants to use itself.

[Captain Rhino]

(Why did you ever choose THAT name?) :)

Well...my last boss before I retired from the Marine Corps was an aviator (attack pilot) and everyone who worked for him either already had a call sign (because they were aviators too) or was assigned one based on some "quaint" foible or telling incident. I'm a fairly big guy, broad shouldered, wear glasses, and I can occasionally be kind of stubborn and short-tempered when provoked, so "Rhino" was sort of a natural fit, you might say. (In good fun afterward, the colonel sometimes used to kid me by asking if I'd felt the urge to charge any jeeps lately...)

I was a Captain at the time, so later, when I needed a screen name...

I have since had conversations with retired aviators about how these call signs get assigned (usually toward the end of flight school or at your first squadron). You don't ever get to pick your own. And if you try to change it, brother, standby!

Anyway, all I can say is that the gods of call signs were smiling down on me that day because it could have been far, far worse.

[mad_as_he$$]

Did they let a Frenchman touch it? They can be very acidic.

[GregoryFul]

They should check for some escaping neutrons!