What does «Sistema Internacional de Unidades» mean in Spanish?
- The International System of Units, abbreviated SI for its French name, Le Système International d'Unités, is a comprehensive set of units of measurement. Aside from its dominance in science, the U.S. Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 states that "the metric system of measurement is the preferred system of weights and measures for U.S. commerce and industry." The SI is based on the original metric system developed in France in the 1790s. In October 1960 the 11th international "General Conference on Weights and Measures" met in Paris and changed the name of the Metric System (MKSA) of units (based on the six basic units: meter, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin and candela - in 1971 the mole was added as the seventh basic unit) to the "International System of Units". The Eleventh Conference also established the abbreviation "SI" as the official abbreviation, to be used in all languages. Adoption of the abbreviation SI, especially outside scientific circles, is slow. The terms "metric system" or "MKSA units" are still frequently used.