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Equation 1 · Part 1 · From Origins to Frontier: A History of Scientific Instruments and Metrology

Symbol m

mgv=UIm g v = U I
mm

What this part means

the test mass.

Its job in the formula

m is part of the quantity the equation computes from the expression on the right.

Where the article explains it

where m is the test mass, g the local gravitational acceleration (independently and precisely measured at the balance’s location), v the coil’s velocity in the moving phase, and U and I the voltage and current measured electrically.

The passage around this formula

…effects (the Josephson effect and the quantum Hall effect), a Kibble balance effectively measures mass in terms of the Planck constant, h. The relationship, in its simplified form, is: mgv=UIm g v = U I. where m is the test mass, g the local gravitational acceleration (independently and precisely measured at the balance’s location), v the coil’s velocity in the moving phase, and U and I the voltage and current measured electrically. Combined with the quantum electrical measurements of U and I in terms of…

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Learn the underlying idea

A variable is a named place for a value. Its letter is a local label: x can mean position in one formula and a data point in another.

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Sources cited in the surrounding passage

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