4 ms·
It’s impressive, but for some perspective Henry Cavendish was able to measure the gravitational attraction between two (rather larger) spheres in a lab in the 1
by libraryofbabel 5y ago
It’s impressive, but for some perspective Henry Cavendish was able to measure the gravitational attraction between two (rather larger) spheres in a lab in the 18th century![0]
He called it “weighing the world”, because it allowed him to calculate the mass of the earth.
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavendish_experiment https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavendish_experiment
- EastLondonCoder 5y agoAnd it can be replicated in a school setting! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbucRPiL92Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbucRPiL92Q
- imglorp 5y agoThat was an amazing demonstration. Showing the sped up video was genius: the mass clearly reversed its direction in mid oscillation and then bounced down. I felt a tiny bit sad he didn't go 5 minutes longer and estimate F and G with a little math from the video frames. He'd already demonstrated the noise amplitude nicely.
- Someone 5y agoFrom that Wikipedia page: “The motion of the rod was only about 0.16 inches (4.1 mm)” At first sight, I find that surprisingly large. Thinking of it, he used heavy objects (300kg in total), it isn’t hard to twist a wire, and falling down even a meter hurts, so perhaps it isn’t that surprising.