CALLING FOR RESEARCH IN THE SCIENCE OF MEASUREMENT, A PROCESS EXEMPLIFIED BY REDETERMINATIONS OF THE AVOGADRO CONSTANT

摘要

Basic research in metrology, in competition for declining financial support for science, needs careful planning and justification in terms of direct, and widespread indirect, benefits. One example is that of projects for redetermining Avogadro's Constant, that relates macroscopic measures to highly constant atomic-scale quantities, and physical (mass) to chemical (amount of substance) measurements. Reasoned expectations are presented for: 1. a better value for Avogadro's Constant; 2. an effect on other fundamental constants; 3. a training opportunity for research students; 4. relevance to a redefinition of the unit for mass; 5. improved electric current measurements in the pA range; 6. more reliable analyses of gas mixtures; 7. the development of new certified reference materials; 8. more effective international comparability of measurements, such as on environmental pollutants; and 9. likely impacts on physics, chemistry, technology and trade, such as by a more widespread understanding and use of the international system of units.