Standard Unit Measurement

No matter what field of science you enter, you will need to take measurements, understand them, communicate them to others, and be able to repeat them. In other words, we all have to speak the same basic language. Whether you are a chemist, a physicist, a biologist, an engineer, or even a medical doctor, you will need a consistent way of communicating size, mass, shape, temperature, time, amount, energy, power, and speed.

Consider the screen on which you're reading this text right now. It might be an LCD screen, in which case a very specific orientation of very specific molecules is aligned and realigned under very specific electric fields at precisely defined places on the screen. This alignment controls the way that light travels through the molecules. These alignments are generated by various computer algorithms but are universally accepted and defined to closely reproduce color, appearance, intensity, etc.

Though different in many ways, these various fields of science also have a great deal in common and it is all based on measurements. The chemist developing his or her specific formulation for a liquid crystal has to communicate meaningful information to an engineer about the physical properties required for manufacture and synthesis, and the engineer has to be able to communicate with other engineers, physicists, and chemists to design circuit boards, display screens, and electronic interfaces. If all don't speak the same language, the enterprise will never get off the ground.

The International System of Units is the metric system used in science, industry, and medicine and in much commerce worldwide . Depending on your age and geographic location, you might be very familiar with the "Imperial" system. Imperial units include gallons, feet, miles, and pounds, and the system remains in common use in many places for "everyday" measurements. In much of Europe, and in all scientific circles, however, the SI, or metric, system is in common use.

video standard unit measurement