Dictionary · Standards & Units
Base unit
A measurement unit adopted by convention for a base quantity — in the SI: second, metre, kilogram, ampere, kelvin, mole, candela.
Related terms
More from Standards & Units
Reference measurement standard
A standard designated for the calibration of other standards for quantities of a given kind in an organization or at a location — a laboratory's best standard.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 5.6
Reference quantity value
A quantity value used as a basis for comparison with values of quantities of the same kind — a true value, a conventional value, or a standard's certified value, depending on context.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 5.18
Quantity-value scale
The ordered set of values that quantities of a given kind may take — the scale a thermometer or hardness tester reports on.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 1.27
Reference material
Material, sufficiently homogeneous and stable with reference to specified properties, established to be fit for its intended use in measurement or in examination of nominal properties.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 5.13
International System of Quantities (ISQ)
The system of quantities based on the seven base quantities: length, mass, time, electric current, thermodynamic temperature, amount of substance, and luminous intensity — the quantity framework beneath the SI.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 1.6
Intrinsic measurement standard
A standard based on an inherent and reproducible property of a phenomenon or substance — the triple point of water cell, the Josephson voltage standard.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 5.10