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NECESSITY FOR ECESSITY FOR REDEFINING THE KILOGRAM:REDEFINING THE KILOGRAM:
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NECESSITY FOR NECESSITY FOR REDEFINING THE KILOGRAM:REDEFINING THE KILOGRAM:

With the prototype of Kilogram showing variation in its mass, it becomes difficult to measure the
masses of tiny particles in many applications like the mass of fuel injected in an IC Engine per stroke,
chemical industries etc.

A Kibble (or watt) balance is an electromechanical measuring tool that measures the weight of an item
by the power of the electric current and voltage necessary to make a compensating force.

Defining fundamental units based on universal constants has a lot of advantages with regards to
scientific and industrial usage.

M.Amaranath.Amaranath
M
M.AmaranathM.Amaranath
Second Year / Mechanical Engineering

STIFFING CANCERTIFFING CANCER
STIFFING CANCERSTIFFING CANCER
S

MIT engineers have come up with a non-invasive method to gauge a cell’s stiffness by simply
observing the motion of its particles. Researchers have devised a way to assess a cell’s mechanical
properties simply by observation. MIT engineers, armed with an old Albert Einstein equation, have
come up with a non-invasive method to gauge a cell’s stiffness by using standard confocal microscopy
and film to observe the motion of its particles. Measuring a cell’s stiffness this way could be a key to
not just finding cancer but monitoring its progress throughout treatment.

Ming Guo, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, and his team faced the challenge
partly by using the strokes-Einstein equation, created by Albert Einstein. Long-term research followed,
which led to tweaking the equation to measure movement caused by physical force, not temperature.
Guo’s lab had been mainly doing experiments using optical tweezers that force, however, can damage
cells. “so we develop in the lab direct imaging to look at the movements of particles,” he says. “This
helps with the understanding of the non-equilibrium nature, and we can translate this movement.”
Guo likens this to the final touches on your morning coffee. This stirring of the spoon for the sugar in
causing movement but so is the temperature. In this case, the researchers want to figure out the
equivalent of the spoon’s role in the movement. Guo likens this to the final touches on your morning
coffee. This stirring of the spoon for the sugar in causing movement but so is the temperature. In this
case, the researchers want to figure out the equivalent of the spoon’s role in the movement. To do so,
the researchers used a modified version of Stokes_Einstein to find the cell’s stiffness and by filming the
cell and watching each frame; they could separate the influence of temperature on the movement and
focus on the physical forces. That eliminates the need to use optical tweezers and prevents the cells
from being harmed. The method needs further testing before it’s introduced to real-life medical
scenarios, but Gun is optimistic.

S. S. S. S.P PP Prabhakaranrabhakaran
rabhakaranrabhakaran
Third YearThird Year / M/ Mechanical Engineeringechanical Engineering
T Third Yearhird Year / M/ Mechanical Engineeringechanical Engineering

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