Measurement System Advances Next-Gen Solar Devices
A new versatile measurement system devised by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) accurately and quickly measures the electric power output of solar energy devices, capabilities useful to researchers and manufacturers working to develop and make next-generation solar energy cells.
Innovative devices that convert sunlight to electric power more efficiently and cost effectively than the current generation of solar cell technology are the objects of a global pursuit — means to reducing fossil-fuel consumption and to securing pole position in the competition for fast-growing international markets for clean energy sources.
Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2012/08/measurement-system-advances-next-gen-solar-devices
Working at New Scientist means that every day, I learn something new and fascinating. I have been terribly lax about blogging these amazing discoveries, but here’s one I loved. I never gave much thought to metrology - the science of measurement - but it’s fascinating and really important. Anyway, NS ran a piece this week about how some scientists are lobbying for more precise measurements. I kind of wondered, “What’s the big deal? What’s wrong with our old measurements?” Turns out, A LOT.
“The first sign that the SI was flawed was noticed in 1949 in a check on a lump of metal kept inside a vault at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) in Paris. By definition, it is the only object in existence with a mass of exactly 1 kilogram – one of the seven SI base units – so metrologists were unsettled to discover that this mass had changed.”
I’m sorry, what?! The kilogram is based on some lump of metal somewhere? How archaic. (Sidenote: doesn’t the Bureau of Weights and Measures sound like something from Harry Potter? I totally want to visit there. I picture it like a museum with cases of strange measurement objects.)
Anyway, go on over and read about the changes on the horizon for measurements.
