Measuring Up: The Science of Metrology Instructor’s Name: Peter J. Blau Course Outline: Session 1 (2 hours) Units of measure, their history, and review of basic terms Hour 1 o Case study: the crash of Mars lander due to a units conversion error o Class content - outline o The role of units of measure as a means of communication o Ancient units – cubit, biblical references (Holy Ark, Temple of Solomon) o Biometric measurements: da Vinci’s Vitruvian man o Metrology – the formal science of measurement o Basic terms and definitions – refresher on prefixes, suffixes, powers of 10 o Differences between precision, accuracy, repeatability, reproducibility o Measurement of length and some unconventional measures Hour 2 o CLASS EXERCISE (participation optional) – Precision and bias o The meter, standard meter bar, special alloys, compensating for thermal expansion o Periodic recalibration and precision o History of the metric system o The 7 basic units of measure. o Definitions: precision, accuracy, bias, repeatability, and reproducibility Session 2 (2 hours) Measuring time and combining it with other units Hour 1 o Results of the CLASS EXERCISE (illustrating the scatter of data, precision, and bias) o Field-specific measures of length: font sizes, furlongs, etc. o Measurement of mass (weight vs force vs mass) o Weight of coinage and its driving force toward standardization Hour 2 o Weight measurements and standards – National Bureau of Standards (NIST), SRMs o Units of mass and weight – stones, carats, troy oz., o The U.S. Metric Association o Measuring time (history of methods) – Example, an hourglass experiment o Measurement of time and the story of longitude o How long is a nano-second? o Measurements that rely on time: Examples – velocity, the speed of light, speed vs. acceleration.

o The long and short of it. Measuring the spacing between atoms in an electron microscope, height of mountains, depth of oceans, and astronomical distances Session 3 (2 hours) Measurements in daily life and technology Hour 1 o Quiz on devices: what is an “___ ometer”? o Measuring temperature o Measures in cooking – dash, pinch, Scoville units for peppers o Clothing sizes o Field-specific measurements: Beaufort scale of wind, hurricanes, tornadoes o Explosions and natural disasters – volcano explosivity index (VEI), “Hiroshima bombs”, Richter scale of earthquakes o The standard speeds in music (beats per minute vs. Latin terms) o Sports – standard weights, lengths o Medical – H1c, blood pressure o Jewelry – diamond quality Hour 2 o Measuring the a similar feature of an object but using different methods: case study-particle size measurements (microscopy, sieving, average size vs size distributions) o Measuring the roughness of surfaces – what is roughness? o Measuring hardness of surfaces – scratch hardness, indentation hardness, history and hardness scale conversions Session 4 (2 hours) Standards organizations and test method development Hour 1 o National and International Standards Organizations (ASTM, ANSI, ISO) o History of ASTM International o How a test method becomes a standard – practices, guides, methods, specifications o The anatomy of an ASTM standard Hour 2 o Modern “biometrics” o Concluding review: Ancient measurements, terms and definitions, standard units of measure – length, mass, etc.; fundamental units of measure; time measurement and its role in navigation; basic measurements in science, engineering; repeatability, consensus agreements; unusual measurements; field-specific measurements; standardization and organizations. o Wrap-up and questions.