Grunneiningunum

Grunneiningunum is the Icelandic term for the seven fundamental units that form the basis of a measurement system. In the International System of Units (SI), grunneiningunum are the base units from which all other units are derived. They correspond to the base quantities: length, mass, time, electric current, thermodynamic temperature, amount of substance, and luminous intensity.

Historically, grunneiningunum emerged from the metric system to enable universal precision and reproducibility in science and commerce. By defining a small set of reference quantities, laboratories worldwide can calibrate instruments and compare results without ambiguity.

Since 2019, SI base units are defined by fixing fundamental constants. Meter: speed of light; kilogram: Planck constant; second: cesium-133 frequency; ampere: elementary charge; kelvin: Boltzmann constant; mole: Avogadro constant; candela: fixed luminous efficacy for 540 THz radiation (683 lm/W).

Base units enable the derivation of other units, such as the newton (kg·m/s^2) or the joule (kg·m^2/s^2). They underpin calibration, metrology, and standardization efforts across science, industry, and education in Iceland and globally.

While the term grunneiningunum is used in Icelandic technical discourse, the concept is parallel to the English “base units” and aligns with SI, ensuring international compatibility of measurements.