CERN manager weighs gnome

Mike Stoor of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) near Geneva, weighs a gnome in the Control Room of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) on April 5, 2012. A German precision scale maker sends the gnome to different scientific institutions to demonstrate that, due to gravity and the Earth not being a perfect sphere, its weight differs around the world. The gnome reportedly weighed 307.65 g (10.8520 oz), but failed to protest his captivity in the voice of U.K. comic legend Harry Enfield. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

• [MatthewKrohn]

  I don’t normally split this hair, but given the topic, it’s kind of important here.  

  The gnome /masses/ 307.65g, and /weighs/ 10.8520 oz at sea level.  No matter where it is on earth, it will ALWAYS mass 307.65g, though it’s weight will fluctuate.  Circulating the gnome is likely either to demonstrate that the weight is fluctuating, or that scales which are not properly calibrated will record the mass wrong.

  • [Nathan Hornby]

    Who said anything about mass?  It says the weight changes, which it does, and both those measurements are the same number, simply converted from grams to ounces, and they’re its weight in both cases, the metric that changes due to location (i.e. gravitational strength).

    Your eagerness to split-hairs appears to have overlooked the content of the post.

    • [MatthewKrohn]

      Grams aren’t a measurement of weight, though.  Nothing ever weighs 307.65 grams because it’s the wrong verb – just like something can’t weigh 2 liters.  The moment that grams were invoked, so was mass.

      • [retepslluerb]

        Nah, not really.    Any German speaking physicist will know that gram is a measurement of mass, yes, but he’ll happily tell you his body weight in kilogram and it’s not unlikely that he’ll buy half a pound of ground beef.  As will probably any one who grew up in metricstan.  

        • [MatthewKrohn]

          Sure, but once you step into a scientific settings, I’m sure that same physicist would start using the correct vocabulary.  I initially mentioned that I wouldn’t normally split this hair because, in the situations you mention, I’d agree that it doesn’t matter.  At CERN, though, I’m sure it’s a distinction that’s drawn very closely.  Then again, I’m a dirty American archaeologist who mixes metric (1m x 1m square hole in the ground) with imperial (1/4″ screen) daily, so what do I know about particle physics vernacular?

        • [Stooge]

          You’re missing the (rather small) point: grams are by definition units of force. The equivalent units of weight are grams-force or ponds.

      • [NelC]

         In everyday speech, gram and kilogram are acceptable abbreviations for gram-force and kilogram-force. Context (such as use of the word ‘weigh’) is usually sufficient to distinguish between them.

• [jwkrk]

  Grams = MASS.  NEWTONS = weight. 
  All those scales that give readings in grams and kilograms are using the wrong units.
  At sea level there are about 9.8 Newtons per kilogram, which is close to their beloved “factors of ten”.
  It’s the dirty little secret of the metric system.

  There, glad to get that weight off my chest.

• [MatthewKrohn]

  And can I just say how classy all these numbers look in the Georgia font?

• [Rusty]

  Anyone else looking at that scale and thinking, “what the dickens number system is that?”

  • [Noctilucent Studios]

     That’s the one the Mechanical Elves use……whole different set of numbers over on “that side” of things.

  • [nixiebunny]

     I’m looking at the scale and thinking about the crappiness of LCD screens. They do that when viewed from below. Try it.

• [thermidorthelobster]

  As a physics teacher who battles daily to teach students that mass (measured in KG) is an (almost) unvarying scalar quantity, and that weight (measured in Newtons) is a force which varies according to local gravitational field strength and is a vector, I can’t tell you how dismayed I am to see articles like this.  Scales measure weight, not mass – the reading in KG is just a conversion taking into account the expected GFS, which the scales assume is constant.  To say the weight in KG has changed shows a lack of comprehension of the underlying physics which makes me want to crawl under a rock and die.

  • [nixiebunny]

     Yup. The mass media are capable of taking any scientific concept and distorting it to meaninglessness in the quest to make it understandable to the lay person. I hope the folks at CERN weren’t complicit in this distortion.

    • [Peter]

       I like the mass media joke!

  • [Ben Ehlers]

    Although, to be fair, the electronic scale pictured is a variation of a standard spring scale which merely correlates the downward force exerted by gravity on the gnome with a specific mass by multiplying its reciprocal by a fixed scalar quantity (in this case 9.81 and change m/s^2). If they used a proper mass balance, this wouldn’t be an issue.

  • [sarcasmatron]

    Since we’re splitting hairs… the symbol for kilogram is kg, not KG.

    • [thermidorthelobster]

      I don’t think Newtons should have a capital letter either…  my bad.

      • [NelC]

         If the unit is from a person’s name, I think it gets a capital. Newton, N; Watt,W; Pascal, P; Celsius, °C; Fahrenheit, °F.

• [Aaron Swain]

  I like that he uses latex gloves to handle the gnome.

  • [teapot]

    Me too. I presume his meticulous work with gnomes was most of the reason CERN gave him the position.

    • [benher]

      I think they have to though.

      If you have to be pedantically accurate (They are going to a lot of trouble so I assume they must) wouldn’t you want to use a weight that wouldn’t have paint flaking off, corners chipping off, etc? 

      It’s funny and cute and I know I’m getting the poo-on-parade award for this post, but in terms of gathering spot on accurate results (rather than headlines), was this really the best choice?

• [MyFreeWeb]

  The gnome reminds me of Half-Life 2 Episode Two

• [etherist]

  Christ, what an asshole that CERN guy is.

• [zuben]

  Are two decimal places sufficiently accurate for CERN or LHC level science? The gnome’s posture would suggest that no. No they’re not.

• [Elizabeth Moonrose]

  Ah ha!!! I knew it! I knew it! This perfectly explains why I weigh more at the doctor’s office than when I am at home!! Thank you CERN!!! Now I have the scientific evidence!

  • [Leo Cortens]

    Actually, they will typically use a mass balance with sliders in the doctor’s office, which will measure your (non-location-dependant) mass.  

    • [Joshua Dworning]

       Which would account for the non-correlation between her spring scale at home and the mass balance at the office.

• [BombBlastLightingWaltz]

  To be accurate, the weighing should be done in a vacuum chamber at various terra sites, much like the aliens do…

• [avoision]

  Two by two, hands of blue…

• [Little John]

  A stern gnome on a KERN scale with a CERN manager.

• [Salim_George]

  I thought Gnomes weighed different weights because … well, they’re gnomes!