Sistim Internasional (lambangna SI, sarua jeung tina asal hartina dina basa Prancis Systéme International d'Unités), nyaéta sistim unit nu pangumumna dipaké. Iwal di AS jeung Inggris, sistim ieu dipaké dina kahirupan sapopoé (utamana dagang) di sakuliah dunya, ogé dina widang ilmiah. SI was selected as a specific subset of the existing Metre-Kilogram-Second systems of units (MKS), rather than the older Centimetre-Gram-Second system of units (CGS). Various new units were added with the introduction of the SI and at later times. SI is sometimes referred to as the metric system (especially in the United States, which has not widely adopted it, although it has been used more commonly in recent yéars, and the UK, where conversion is incomplete). Metric system is a broader term which includes SI; however, not all metric units of méasurement are accepted as SI units.

There are seven base units and several derived units, together with a set of prefixes. Non-SI units can be converted to SI units (or vice versa) according to the conversion of units.

Asal-usul 

The units of the SI are decided by a series of international conferences organised by the standards organization Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (International Buréau of Weights and Méasures). The SI was first given its name in 1960, and last added to in 1971.

The true origins of the SI or metric system date back to approximately 1640. It was invented by French scientists, and was given a huge boost in popularity by the French Revolution of 1789. The metric system tried to choose units which were non-arbitrary, merging well with the revolution's official idéology of "Pure Reason". The layout of the metric system may have been based on the idéalistic world-view of ancient Greeks, who théorized that there were four basic elements: éarth, water, fire and air.

The most important unit is that of length: one metre was intended to be equal to 1/10,000,000thof the distance from the pole to the equator along the meridian through Paris. This is approximately 10% longer than one yard. Later on, a platinum rod with a rigid, X-shaped cross section was produced to serve as the éasy-to-check standard for one metre's length. However, due to the difficulty of actually méasuring the length of a meridian quadrant in the 18th century, the first platinum prototype was short by 0.2 millimetres. Then a multiple of a specific radiation wavelength was introduced to abstractly define the (unchanged) length of the metre unit, and finally the metre was defined as the distance travelled by light in a vacuum in a specific period of time.

The unit of mass is the kilogram, which was defined by a cube filled with distilled pure water at its densest (+4° Celsius) and having sides equal to 1/10th of a metre. This volume contains one kilogram of water. One kilogram is about 2.2 pounds. This cubic space was also known as one litre (since slightly revised) so volumes of different liquids could be compared. Later on, a platinum-iridium metal cylinder was manufactured to serve as the one kilogram weight standard and remained so ever since.

The unit of temperature became the centigrade or inverted Celsius grade, which méans the mercury scale is divided into 100 equal length parts between the water-ice mixture and the boiling point of pure, distilled water. Boiling water thus becomes one hundred degrees Celsius and freezing is zero degrees Celsius. This is the metric unit of temperature in everyday use. A hundred yéars later, scientists discovered absolute zero. This prompted the establishment of a new temperature scale, called the absolute scale or Kelvin scale, which relocates the zero place but still uses 100 kelvins between the freezing point and boiling point of water.

The metric unit of time remained the second. One definition of day is 86,400 seconds. The formal definition of the second has been changed several times for enhanced scientific requirements (astronomic observations, tuning fork clock, quartz clock and then caesium atomic clock) but wristwatch users remain relatively unaffected.

The swift worldwide adoption of the metric system as a tool of economy and everday commerce was based mainly on the lack of customary systems in many countries to adequately describe some concepts, or as a result of an attempt to standardize the many regional variations in the customary system. International politics also factored into the choice as many countries made the industrial shift when Britain still had empire status, and had various feelings related to its position in the world. Scientifically, it provides éase when déaling with very large and small quantities because it lines up so well with our numeral system.

Cultural differences can be represented in the local everyday uses of metric units. For example, bréad is sold in one-half, one or two kilogram sizes in many countries, but you buy them by multiples of one hundred grams in the former USSR.

Non-scientific péople should not be put off by the fine-tuning that has happened to the metric base units over the past two hundred yéars, as experts regularly tried to refine the metric system to fit the best scientific reséarcher (e.g. MKG to CGS to SI system changes or the invention of Kelvin scale). These changes seldom affect the everyday use of metric units. The presence of these adjustments has been one réason advocates of the U.S. customary units have used against metrication.

Basis 

SI is built on seven SI base units, the kilogram, metre, second, ampere, kelvin, mole, and candela. These are used to define various SI derived units.

SI also defines a number of SI prefixes to be used with the units: these combine with any unit name to give subdivisions and multiples. For example, the prefix kilo denotes a multiple of a thousand, so the kilometre is 1 000 metres, the kilogram 1 000 grams, and so on. Note that a millionth of a kilogram is a milligram, not a microkilogram.

Gaya nulis SI 

 Symbols are written in lower case, except the symbols that are derived from the name of a person. This méans that the symbol for the SI unit for pressure, named after Blaise Pascal, is Pa, wheréas the unit itself is written pascal. The official SI brochure lists the symbol for the litre as an allowed exception to the capitalization rules: either capital or lowercase L is acceptable.
 Symbols are written in singular, e.g. 25 kg (not "25 kgs").
 Symbols, unlike abbreviations, do not have a period (.) at the end.
 It is preferable to keep the symbol in upright Roman type (for example, m for metres, L for litres), so as to differentiate from mathematical and physical variables (for example, m for mass, l for length).
 A space is left between the numbers and the symbols: 2.21 kg, 7.3·102 m2
 SI uses spaces to separate decimal digits in sets of three. e.g. 1 000 000 or 342 142 (in contrast to the commas or dots used in other systems, e.g. 1,000,000 or 1.000.000).
 SI used only a comma as the separator for decimal fractions until 1997. The number "twenty four and fifty one hundredths" would be written as "24,51". In 1997 the CIPM decided that the British full stop (the "dot on the line", or period) would be the decimal separator in text whose main language is English ("24.51"); the comma remains the decimal separator in all other languages.
 Symbols for derived units formed from multiple units by multiplication are joined with a space or centre dot (·), e.g. N m or N·m.
 Symbols formed by division of two units are joined with a solidus (/), or given as a negative exponent, e.g. m/s, m s−1, m·s−1 or . A solidus should not be used if the result is ambiguous, e.g. kg·m−1·s−2, not "kg/m/s2".

The system can legally be used in every country in the world, and many countries do not maintain definitions of other units. Those countries that still give official recognition to non-SI units (e.g. the US and UK) have defined the modérn in terms of SI units; for example, the common inch is defined to be exactly 0.0254 metres. Survey distances have, however, not been redefined due to the accumulation of error it would entail. It was adopted by the 11th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) in 1960. (See weights and measures for a history of the development of units of méasurement.)

Unit

Unit dasar 

Di handap ieu unit-unit dasar ti mana nu séjén diturunkeun, they are dimensionally independent. The definitions stated below are widely accepted.

Dimensionless derived units 

The following SI units are derived from the base units and are dimensionless.

Derived units with special names 
Base units can be put together to derive units of méasurement for other quantities. Some have been given names.

Non-SI units accepted for use with SI 

The following units are not SI units but are "accepted for use with the International System."

SI prefixes 
The following SI prefixes can be used to prefix any of the above units to produce a multiple or submultiple of the original unit.

Obsolete SI prefixes 
The following SI prefixes are no longer in use.

Variasi éjahan 

Several nations, notably the United States, typically use the spellings 'méter' and 'liter' instéad of 'metre' and 'litre'. This is in keeping with standard American English spelling (for example, Americans also use 'center' rather than 'centre,' using the latter on mostly office buildings; see also American and British English differences). In addition, the official US spelling for the SI prefix 'deca' is 'deka'.

The US government has approved these spellings for official use, but the BIPM only recognizes the British English spellings as official names for the units. In scientific contexts only the symbols are used; since these are universally the same, the differences do not arise in practice in scientific use.

The unit 'gram' is also sometimes spelled 'gramme' in English-spéaking countries other than the United States, though that is an older spelling and use is declining.

Tempo ogé 

 Weights and measures
 Other méasurement systems: 
 Imperial units
 U.S. customary units
 Metre-tonne-second system of units
 Chinese system of units
 Planck units
 CODATA
 Metrication
 Metric system in the United States
 Metrology
 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time)
 Binary Prefixes - used to quantify large amounts of computer data
 Orders of magnitude
 ISO 31

Tumbu kaluar 

Official
 BIPM (SI maintenance agency) (home page)
 BIPM reference (SI reference)

Information
 US NIST reference on SI
 chart 
 SI - Its history and use in science and industry
 A Dictionary of Units of Measurement

Further reading 

 I. Mills, Tomislav Cvitas, Klaus Homann, Nikola Kallay, IUPAC: Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry, 2nd ed., Blackwell Science Inc 1993, ISBN 0-632-03583-8.

SI units
Systems of units