Size matters

The ability to precisely measure and calibrate things such as time, distance, weight, temperature and brightness has a surprisingly massive impact on our lives. Even seemingly trifling measurement errors can have dire consequences.

Consider, for example, NASA’s Mars Climate Orbiter. This US$125 million robotic spacecraft burnt up as it attempted to enter the Red Planet’s orbit in 1999 because a stuff-up between its navigation software, which used metric units, and its altitude-control system, which used imperial units, placed it 100km closer to Mars than intended.

In France in 2014 another measurement error meant that 2000 new trains, ordered at a cost of €15 billion, were too wide to fit alongside the platforms of many regional rail stations. As a result more than 1000 platforms had to be reconfigured, at vast expense.

Many aspects of ordinary life also rely on precise, standardised measurements. When the alarm on your clock or smartphone goes off in the morning and you navigate your way to work using Google Maps, you trust that time and directional information are accurate. Similarly, when you buy a box of cereal, carton of milk or bunch of grapes, or buy fuel at the bowser, you implicitly trust that the weights or volumes of the goods you’re purchasing are what they claim to be.

Since civilisation began, standardised methods of measurement have been vital for trade and to allow scientific and technological advances, explains Dr Bruce Warrington, CEO and chief metrologist at Australia’s National Measurement Institute (NMI), which is headquartered in the northern Sydney suburb of Lindfield.

“Historically, without a centralised standardisation for weights and measures, you get