The gravitational constant, G, explains the level of gravitational attraction between objects. The hunt for G began with a bet between scientists, and Sir Henry Cavendish later inherited a machine to measure gravity density, leading to future gravitational constant calculations. G remains difficult to measure, with a widely accepted mathematical expression of G= 6.673 84 X 10-11 m3 kg-1 s-2.
The gravitational constant refers to an observed physical quality or behavior that explains the level of gravitational attraction between objects. Essentially, any two objects with mass will assert some gravitational pull on each other; it is the force that makes the earth go around the sun rather than drifting into thin air. The gravitational constant, known as G, explains the amount of pull or pull that one object exerts on another, multiplied by the mass of the two objects and divided by the square of the distance between the two objects.
The hunt for the gravitational constant preoccupied many of science‘s brightest minds throughout much of the 17th and 18th centuries. According to legend, the journey to discovering the gravitational constant began with a bet between three prominent scientists of the time – Sir Christopher Wren, Edmund Halley and Robert Hooke – about the orbital paths of the planets. Halley, inspired, chooses to visit revered professor Isaac Newton for assistance, who revealed not only the correct answer, but that he had solved the problem some time ago but had somehow misplaced the notes. Halley prompted Newton to look into the matter again, earning him considerable credit for inspiring the publication of Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, one of the most enduring scientific works in human history.
Although Newton’s Principia theorized the presence of the gravitational constant, they did not answer the question about the mathematical value of G. More than 70 years after Newton’s death, a brilliant and charming eccentric scientist named Sir Henry Cavendish inherited a machine designed to measure gravity density of the Earth. The machine was the design of another scientist, the Reverend John Michell, who died before he could complete his experiments. The fabulously complex machine, which was allegedly so sensitive that it had to be observed in operation from another room to avoid tainting the results, helped produce not only the desired density results, but also led to future gravitational constant calculations. .
Cavendish’s calculations weren’t exactly correct, but even with 21st century technology, the gravitational constant remains one of the more difficult physical constants to measure. Scientists revised the calculations several times over the intervening centuries, arriving in 2006 at a widely accepted mathematical expression of G= 6.673 84 X 10-11 m3 kg-1 s-2, where M=length in meters, kg= mass in kilograms, eg=time in seconds. With centuries of recalculation behind it and the potential for future centuries filled with further refinements, most scientific explanations add that this equation should still include some margin of error.
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