Errata for Just a Theory

Page 27 (box). Robert A. Saunders contributed the following passage:
There is an interesting tale here. Of the three constants (epsilon-zero, mu-zero, and the speed of light, which I'll represent by e0, m0, and c respectively), only two are independent since it is easily shown from Maxwell's equations that e0 * m0 * c^2 = 1. In the early part of the 20th century, the centimeter-gram-second system [cgs] of units was used by physicists, and m0 was simply defined to be 1. With the speed of light determined, a value of e0 could easily be obtained (not from a separate measurement, of course). For various reasons, starting roughly after the war, the meter-kilogram-second system [MKS] replaced it, and to keep the values of common units such as volts and amps unchanged, m0 got redefined to 4 * pi * 1E-7. (The four pi cleaned up some messy equations, and the result was called the rational MKS system.) This, of course, resulted in a need to change the defined value of e0. The next step in this tale was the recent decision to define the speed of light as a constant, with value equal to the best measurement that had been made of it up to that time. This, of course, resulted in defining e0 as well (with a slight change in its value). So the bottom line is: m0 was never determined by a measurement, and e0 was determined once upon a time indirectly by a measurement but isn't any more.

Last update 18 August 2010.