Carl Sorenson wrote in USMA 25051
I believe that in 1959 the liter was still defined to be the volume of a
kilogram of pure water at its highest density. The liter was therefore
different from a cubic decimeter by about 28 parts per million. If you want
to be this precise, a gallon was 3 785.434 497 cm^3 but not 3 785.434 497
mL.
Personally, I don't really care a whole lot, since this has not one shred of
influence on my day-to-day life, but I know that this list has a lot of
people who like numbers with twelve decimal places.
Carl
Quite right. In 1901 the Conf�rence G�n�rale des Poids et Mesures
decided that the litre was the volume of a kilogram of water. In 1960
the CGPM redefined the litre as exactly one cubic decimetre. This
reduced its size by 28 parts in 10^6. For that reason be cautious
about the meaning of litre in papers written between 1901 and 1960.
--
Joseph B. Reid
17 Glebe Road West
Toronto M5P 1C8 Telephone 416-486-6071
