the second is defined in terms of the caesium frequency . The concept of defining a unit of length in terms of a time received some comment. In both cases, the practical issue is that time can be measured more accurately than length (one part in 1013 for a second using a caesium clock as opposed to four parts in 109 for the metre in 1983). The definition in terms of the speed of light also means that the metre can be realised using any light source of known frequency, rather than defining a "preferred" source in advance. Given that there are more than 22,000 lines in the visible spectrum of iodine, any of which could be potentially used to stabilise a laser source, the advantages of flexibility are obvious. History of definitions since 1798 See also Length measurement History of geodesy Notes References External links Metre History of measurement