A proposal for absolute determination of inertial mass by measuring oscillation periods based on the quasi-elastic electrostatic force

Abstract

A quasi-elastic electrostatic oscillation method is proposed for the absolute determination of inertial mass, which is distinguished from the gravitational mass measurement in the watt balance experiment. The value of the kilogram is determined by comparing oscillation periods of the quasi-elastic electrostatic oscillator with different test masses and applying different dc voltages on a symmetrical twin-Kelvin-capacitor system. The required measuring quantities for this method include the capacitance, voltage, vertical distance and oscillation periods, which in principle can be measured with high accuracy. In addition, this experiment is insensitive to the air buoyancy and the heating problem, and it can be operated in air. Both the theory and experimental verifications are presented.