Other pages in this series (7)
Henrion & Fischhoff (1986) indices, recomputed
- From 1969 to 1973, one of the five constants, the Avogadro constant, moved by 3.1 old σ; the other four by less than 0.5.
- Against the 2022 edition, 43% of 42 values of the five constants in the 1969–2018 editions lie outside their 98% interval (normal: 2%).
In the last row of their Table I, they compared five constants (α⁻¹, e, h, mₑ, N_A) in eight reviews from 1929 to 1969 with the 1973 values and reported an interquartile index of 22% and a surprise index of 57% (normal: 50% and 2%). This site reaches back only to 1969, so it repeats part of that calculation and adds the same calculation against the 2022 edition. As in their paper and in Table 34.2 of the 1973 report, α⁻¹ is used rather than α.
- 1969 edition against 1973 (their reference, five constants): IQ=0.800 SI=0.200 RMS=1.42.
- 1969–2018 editions against 2022 (five constants, editions in which they were measured, n=42): IQ=0.071 SI=0.429 RMS=2.42.
z = (reference value − earlier value) / earlier uncertainty. IQ is the share with |z| < 0.674, SI the share with |z| > 2.326, RMS the root mean square of z. The 1969→1973 changes of e, h, mₑ and N_A are −1.56, −3.02, −2.63 and −20.6 ppm, matching −1.6, −3.0, −2.6 and −21 in Table 34.2 of the 1973 report; α⁻¹ changes by +0.146 ppm (table: +0.15). The 22% and 57% of their Table I were read from a public OCR copy and have not been checked against the published version. The 1929–1963 reviews (Birge, DuMond–Cohen and others) are planned for a later version.
| Name | Edition | Reference | z |
|---|---|---|---|
| inverse fine-structure constant | 1969 | 1973 | 0.095 |
| elementary charge | 1969 | 1973 | −0.357 |
| Planck constant | 1969 | 1973 | −0.400 |
| electron mass | 1969 | 1973 | −0.444 |
| Avogadro constant | 1969 | 1973 | −3.100 |
| inverse fine-structure constant | 1969 | 2022 | −0.099 |
| inverse fine-structure constant | 1973 | 2022 | −0.371 |
| inverse fine-structure constant | 1986 | 2022 | 1.586 |
| inverse fine-structure constant | 1998 | 2022 | −1.166 |
| inverse fine-structure constant | 2002 | 2022 | 0.146 |
| inverse fine-structure constant | 2006 | 2022 | −5.340 |
| inverse fine-structure constant | 2010 | 2022 | 2.341 |
| inverse fine-structure constant | 2014 | 2022 | 1.226 |
| inverse fine-structure constant | 2018 | 2022 | 4.429 |
| elementary charge | 1969 | 2022 | −2.152 |
| elementary charge | 1973 | 2022 | −2.732 |
| elementary charge | 1986 | 2022 | −1.420 |
| elementary charge | 1998 | 2022 | 2.730 |
| elementary charge | 2002 | 2022 | 0.743 |
| elementary charge | 2006 | 2022 | 3.675 |
| elementary charge | 2010 | 2022 | 1.971 |
| elementary charge | 2014 | 2022 | 1.347 |
| Planck constant | 1969 | 2022 | −2.517 |
| Planck constant | 1973 | 2022 | −2.940 |
| Planck constant | 1986 | 2022 | −1.337 |
| Planck constant | 1998 | 2022 | 2.673 |
| Planck constant | 2002 | 2022 | 0.773 |
| Planck constant | 2006 | 2022 | 3.606 |
| Planck constant | 2010 | 2022 | 2.000 |
| Planck constant | 2014 | 2022 | 1.358 |
| electron mass | 1969 | 2022 | −3.228 |
| electron mass | 1973 | 2022 | −3.198 |
| electron mass | 1986 | 2022 | −1.109 |
| electron mass | 1998 | 2022 | 2.547 |
| electron mass | 2002 | 2022 | 0.696 |
| electron mass | 2006 | 2022 | 3.475 |
| electron mass | 2010 | 2022 | 2.010 |
| electron mass | 2014 | 2022 | 1.399 |
| electron mass | 2018 | 2022 | 4.429 |
| Avogadro constant | 1969 | 2022 | −0.706 |
| Avogadro constant | 1973 | 2022 | 3.089 |
| Avogadro constant | 1986 | 2022 | 1.128 |
| Avogadro constant | 1998 | 2022 | −2.617 |
| Avogadro constant | 2002 | 2022 | −0.740 |
| Avogadro constant | 2006 | 2022 | −3.433 |
| Avogadro constant | 2010 | 2022 | −1.963 |
| Avogadro constant | 2014 | 2022 | −1.311 |