1. Standards - there are many different types of standards. Product standards define the way certain things are made. For example, the standard for notebook paper tells how many holes and how far apart the holes are. NIST makes measurement standards which let you measure almost anything from the brightness of a light bulb to the vitamins in your food very accurately.

2. Measurement - Measurements tell us about the physical traits of something we're interested in. We can measure size, weight, strength, speed, color, volume, and many other qualities. We use tools to make measurements. Meter, used as a verb, means to measure. Lots of measuring tools have meter in their name. For example, electric meter, thermometer, barometer, spectrometer, water meter, odometer, and speedometer.

3. Calibrate - We calibrate measurements by testing the accuracy of our measuring tools against a standard. Calibrations are necessary to make sure measurements are correct in important jobs, like building a house or making medicines.

4. Research - Research is a way of gathering information in order to understand our world. Scientists use carefully planned experiments as part of their research to explain things from the depths of the oceans to the mysteries of the stars.

5. Atoms - Atoms are the basic building blocks of matter. Air, water, and all solid objects are made of atoms. These tiny particles are way too small to see but billions of atoms bonded together make up everything that you can see.

6. Metric System - the metric system is the most widely used measurement system in the world. It has seven basic units: the meter, the second, the candela, the ampere, the kilogram, the mole, and the Kelvin.

7. Technology - Technology is a tool or a set of tools we use to get a job done. In the past 40 years new technologies have been invented with amazing speed. Today some of the same technology that runs very fast scientific computer systems also powers electronic toys and games for children.

8. Microscope - Microscopes magnify objects so they appear bigger than they actually are. We use them to look at very small things. The best microscopes at NIST can see objects as small as single atoms.

9. Internet - A worldwide connection of computers, telephones, and other e-mail and world wide web devices. People can send messages to each other very quickly using the Internet. They can also learn about each other on web sites posted on the Internet. You're looking at the NIST web site right now!

10. Earthquake - In certain places the Earth can suddenly start shaking, causing what we call an earthquake. Some earthquakes are very mild, but some are so strong that they destroy buildings, streets, and sidewalks. NIST does research on how to keep buildings standing during earthquakes.

Created: May 8, 2001
Last updated: May 27, 2003
contact: inquiries@nist.gov