Comparison of the imperial and US customary measurement systems metre, as 1852 metres. Traditionally, both Britain and the US used three different weight systems: troy weight for precious metals, avoirdupois weight for most other purposes and apothecaries' weight for medicines. However, apothecaries' weight has now been superseded by the metric system. One important difference is the widespread use in Britain of the stone of 14 pounds () for body weight. This unit is not used in the United States, although its influence was seen in the practice, until World War II, of selling flour by a barrel of 196 pounds (14 stone). Another difference arose when Britain abolished the
Synthesis of precious metals Synthesis of precious metals The synthesis of precious metals involves the use of either nuclear reactors or particle accelerators to produce these elements. Ruthenium and rhodium are precious metals produced by nuclear fission, as a small percentage of the fission products. The radioisotopes of these elements generated by nuclear fission with the longest half-lives have half-lives of 373.59 days and 45 days for ruthenium and rhodium, respectively. This makes their extraction from spent nuclear fuel possible, although they must be checked for radioactivity before use. Each kilogram of the fission products of U will contain 63.44 grams of ruthenium isotopes