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A profile of the National Physical Laboratory

Andrew Wallard

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NPL has been involved in metrology-the science of measurement-for almost a century, and has a national responsibility for keeping and maintaining the standards and researching into the techniques of measurement. Traditional, basic units of science and engineering like length, mass, time, electric current and temperature have always been part of the work of the NPL and present-day research looks into new or improved ways of measuring these base units as well as a very large number of standards such as force, illumination, hardness and relative humidity which are needed in practical industrial measurement. The NPL's work on various properties of engineering materials and in computer science is described and some examples of its methods of working are outlined. Two current research projects are examined in detail, these being D work on length standards, based on atomic phenomena, and (ii) work on polymers and composites for application to crash padding. Some future possibilities are briefly examined.


PACS

01.50.My Demonstration experiments and apparatus

01.40.Fk Physics education research (cognition, problem solving, etc.)

06.20.fb Standards and calibration

07.05.-t Computers in experimental physics

Subjects

Instrumentation and measurement

Education and communication

Dates

Issue 1 ( 1 January 1981)



  1. A profile of the National Physical Laboratory

    Andrew Wallard 1981 Phys. Educ. 16 15

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