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Equation 5 · Part 11 · The Last Artefact: Redefining the Kilogram

Numerator: 8V_mathrm s

N=8 Vsa3,ms=N m(28Si)=h N(m(28Si)h)N = \frac{8\,V_{\mathrm s}}{a^{3}}, \qquad m_{\mathrm s} = N\, m({}^{28}\mathrm{Si}) = h\,N \left( \frac{m({}^{28}\mathrm{Si})}{h} \right)
8 Vs8\,V_{\mathrm s}

What this part means

The complete quantity above the fraction bar.

Its job in the formula

8VmV_mathrm s occurs above the fraction bar. The numerator is divided by the entire denominator below it.

The passage around this formula

The second primary method shares almost nothing with the first except its answer. The X-ray crystal density route determines the mass of a nearly perfect single-crystal silicon sphere by counting the atoms in it. With eight atoms per cubic unit cell of lattice parameter a, the atom count follows from the macroscopic sphere volume, and the sphere mass follows from the count [ 4 ] : N=8 Vsa3,ms=N m(28Si)=h N(m(28Si)h)N = \frac{8\,V_{\mathrm s}}{a^{3}}, \qquad m_{\mathrm s} = N\, m({}^{28}\mathrm{Si}) = h\,N \left( \frac{m({}^{28}\mathrm{Si})}{h} \right). The ratio of the silicon-28 atomic mass to h is a constant of nature known to high accuracy, so with h fixed the sphere becomes a primary mass standard [ 4 ] . The mise en pratique notes that the second equality is not exact — the total binding energy of the crystal reduces the right-hand side…

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Learn the underlying idea

A fraction a/b means a divided by b. The top number is the numerator; the bottom number is the denominator, and it cannot be zero.

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Sources cited in the surrounding passage

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