Amendment of the Units of Measurement Regulations 19863

For paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to the Units of Measurement Regulations 19864 (definitions of SI base units5) substitute—

SI base units.

Quantity

Unit

Name

Symbol

Time

second

s

Length

metre

m

Mass

kilogram

kg

Electric current

ampere

A

Thermodynamic temperature

kelvin

K

Amount of substance

mole

mol

Luminous intensity

candela

cd

Definitions of SI base units

  • Unit of time

    The second, symbol s, is the SI unit of time. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the caesium frequency ΔvCs, the unperturbed ground-state hyperfine transition frequency of the caesium 133 atom, to be 9 192 631 770 when expressed in the unit Hz, which is equal to s-1.

  • Unit of length

    The metre, symbol m, is the SI unit of length. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the speed of light in vacuum c to be 299 792 458 when expressed in the unit m/s, where the second is defined in terms of ΔvCs.

  • Unit of mass

    The kilogram, symbol kg, is the SI unit of mass. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the Planck constant h to be 6.626 070 15 × 10-34 when expressed in the unit J s, which is equal to kg m2 s-1, where the metre and the second are defined in terms of c and ΔvCs.

  • Unit of electric current

    The ampere, symbol A, is the SI unit of electric current. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the elementary charge e to be 1.602 176 634 × 10-19 when expressed in the unit C, which is equal to A s, where the second is defined in terms of ΔvCs.

  • Unit of thermodynamic temperature

    The kelvin, symbol K, is the SI unit of thermodynamic temperature. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the Boltzmann constant k to be 1.380 649 × 10-23 when expressed in the unit J K-1, which is equal to kg m2 s-2 K-1, where the kilogram, metre and second are defined in terms of h, c and ΔvCs.

  • Unit of amount of substance

    The mole, symbol mol, is the SI unit of amount of substance. One mole contains exactly 6.022 140 76 × 1023 elementary entities. This number is the fixed numerical value of the Avogadro constant, NA, when expressed in the unit mol-1 and is called the Avogadro number.

    The amount of substance, symbol n, of a system is a measure of the number of specified elementary entities. An elementary entity may be an atom, a molecule, an ion, an electron, any other particle or specified group of particles.

  • Unit of luminous intensity

    The candela, symbol cd, is the SI unit of luminous intensity in a given direction. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the luminous efficacy of monochromatic radiation of frequency 540 × 1012 Hz, Kcd, to be 683 when expressed in the unit lm W-1, which is equal to cd sr W-1, or cd sr kg-1 m-2 s3, where the kilogram, metre and second are defined in terms of h, c and ΔvCs.

Special name and symbol of the SI derived unit of temperature for expressing Celsius temperature

Quantity

Unit

Name

Symbol

Celsius temperature

degree Celsius

°C

Celsius temperature t is defined as the difference t = TT0 between the two thermodynamic temperatures T and T0 where T0 = 273.15 K. An interval or difference of temperature may be expressed either in kelvins or in degrees Celsius. The unit “degree Celsius” is equal to the unit “kelvin”.