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I once worked with a guy who had worked on gravitational measurements in (I presume) grad school. They measured the attraction between spheres of lead. One of t
by D-Coder 6y ago
I once worked with a guy who had worked on gravitational measurements in (I presume) grad school. They measured the attraction between spheres of lead. One of the adjustments they had to make was considering the change in the masses as lead atoms evaporated from the surface of the spheres.
- adonovan 6y agoThe gravitational attraction between spheres of lead is strong enough to be measured in a high-school science lab (if you can remove the students and air currents); this is the famous Cavendish experiment of 1798. I remember it blowing my mind to realize that although a lead sphere is tiny compared to the Earth, it's also right there: whereas the Earth acts like a point mass four thousand miles beneath your feet.