The world’s "roundest ball"

We see a lot of balls, but in fact, there is no absolute sphere in the world. Only in a gravity free environment can we make a perfect sphere in a real sense. Recently, however, scientists have made a breakthrough in the technology of making balls. They have produced the roundest ball on earth! And it is such a small sphere, which takes five years and costs tens of millions of yuan to build. Why make such a ball?

In fact, this is to become a new standard for measuring kilogram. The platinum iridium cylinder weight of the international kilogram prototype has been stored in Paris, the capital of France, for 120 years. However, according to authoritative tests, it is mysteriously 50 micrograms lighter than the original. Although it has no impact on our daily life, it is obviously not conducive to precise scientific research. So scientists around the world created this silicon sphere to redefine a more accurate measurement of the kilogram.

The sphere is made of 1 kg silicon-28 with purity of 99.99%. The raw material for light manufacturing has been worth more than 10 million yuan. To get the highest purity of silicon, scientists used centrifuges that the Soviet Union used to make nuclear weapons. The high-purity silicon wafers were then transported to the German National Institute of weights and measures. After six tests, the silicon was made into silicon crystals. Finally, they were shipped to Australia, built with the best engineers and the best equipment for months.

The sphere, 93.75 mm in diameter, is considered the world's roundest object. Even if you enlarge the sphere to the size of the earth, you can only see small ripples of about 12 to 15 mm on the sphere, and the circumference error is only 3 to 5 meters. In this regard, netizens said that we must keep the ball well. If we change it carelessly, it may lead to a huge chain reaction of the whole world like the butterfly effect.

Article source: big eyes

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