Discover
/
Article

Standards for electrical measurement

JAN 01, 1951
Francis B. Silsbee

Precise electrical measurements are of fundamental importance to modern science and industry. This is true not only in the communication and power fields but in many other areas where the flexibility and convenience of electrical methods have made them almost indispensable for the measurement of nonelectrical quantities. Thus, while in textbooks energy is defined simply in terms of force and length or of mass and velocity, in actual practice the heat energy of fuels and the energy output of prime movers are universally measured to high precision by electrical methods. Likewise, the basic electrical units enter into the determination of nearly all the fundamental atomic constants, as well as into daily measurements of heat, light, color, strain, acceleration, displacement, and chemical properties.

This article is only available in PDF format

More about the authors

Francis B. Silsbee, National Bureau of Standards, Washington.

Related content
/
Article
A half century after the discovery of Hawking radiation, we are still dealing with the quantum puzzle it exposed.
/
Article
Since the discovery was first reported in 1999, researchers have uncovered many aspects of the chiral-induced spin selectivity effect, but its underlying mechanisms remain unclear.
/
Article
Metrologists are using fundamental physics to define units of measure. Now NIST has developed new quantum sensors to measure and realize the pascal.
/
Article
Nanoscale, topologically protected whirlpools of spins have the potential to move from applications in spintronics into quantum science.
This Content Appeared In
pt-cover_1951_01.jpeg

Volume 4, Number 1

Get PT newsletters in your inbox

pt_newsletter_card_blue.png
PT The Week in Physics

A collection of PT's content from the previous week delivered every Monday.

pt_newsletter_card_darkblue.png
PT New Issue Alert

Be notified about the new issue with links to highlights and the full TOC.

pt_newsletter_card_pink.png
PT Webinars & White Papers

The latest webinars, white papers and other informational resources.

By signing up you agree to allow AIP to send you email newsletters. You further agree to our privacy policy and terms of service.