Please don’t sneeze on the international standard

This is interesting. The international standard for a kilogram (as well as other measurements) is actually based on a single object, defined as being exactly a kilogram, which is kept very safe at a center near Paris. The thing is, since the object is defined as the kilogram, it doesn’t matter what weight it actually is. If it changes weight over time somehow, the actual quantity known as a kilogram changes. This appears to be happening.

Interestingly, if you were to sneeze on the kilogram, or hack a piece of it, by international law you would have just revised the definition of a kilogram. All the weights in the world would have to change in order to reflect your new sneezed-upon weight. Scientists are working to create a constant instead of a weight, but until then the risk remains.