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The physical basis of natural units and truly fundamental constants
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  • Regular Article
  • Open Access
  • Published: 27 January 2012

The physical basis of natural units and truly fundamental constants

  • L. Hsu1 &
  • J. P. Hsu2 

The European Physical Journal Plus volume 127, Article number: 11 (2012) Cite this article

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Abstract

The natural unit system, in which the value of fundamental constants such as c and ℏ are set equal to one and all quantities are expressed in terms of a single unit, is usually introduced as a calculational convenience. However, we demonstrate that this system of natural units has a physical justification as well. We discuss and review the natural units, including definitions for each of the seven base units in the International System of Units (SI) in terms of a single unit. We also review the fundamental constants, which can be classified as units-dependent or units-independent. Units-independent constants, whose values are not determined by human conventions of units, may be interpreted as inherent constants of nature.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Postsecondary Teaching and Learning, University of Minnesota, 55455, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    L. Hsu

  2. Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, 02747, North Dartmouth, MA, USA

    J. P. Hsu

Authors
  1. L. Hsu
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  2. J. P. Hsu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to L. Hsu.

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Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Hsu, L., Hsu, J.P. The physical basis of natural units and truly fundamental constants. Eur. Phys. J. Plus 127, 11 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2012-12011-5

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  • Received: 25 July 2011

  • Accepted: 07 December 2011

  • Published: 27 January 2012

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2012-12011-5

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Keywords

  • Natural Unit
  • Fundamental Constant
  • Thermodynamic Temperature
  • Luminous Intensity
  • Planck Unit
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