Newton’s constant of gravitation, G, is a fundamental constant of nature that determines the gravitational force between two massive bodies. First measured over 200 years ago by Nevil Maskelyne, the precise value of G remains a moving target for modern experimentalists: Recent reports of the value of G vary by over 400 parts per million, 20 times greater than the uncertainty in any one measurement. To better understand this variation, Terry Quinn at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, France, and colleagues looked for systematic errors in their own setup by rebuilding, from scratch, the apparatus they used to measure G twelve years ago and comparing the results.
To read more,
click here.
