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GRAVITATION CONSTANT AND MEAN DENSITY...
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See also:GRAVITATION See also:CONSTANT AND MEAN See also:DENSITY OF THE See also:EARTH The See also:law of gravitation states that two masses M1 and M2, distant d from each other, are pulled together each with a force G. M1 M2/d2, where G is a constant for all kinds of See also:matter—the gravitation constant. The See also:acceleration of M2 towards Ml or the force exerted on it by M1 per unit of its See also:mass is therefore GM1/d2. Astronomical observations of the accelerations of different See also:planets towards the See also:sun, or of different satellites towards the same See also:primary, give us the most accurate See also:confirmation of the distance See also:part of the law. By comparing accelerations towards different bodies we obtain the ratios of the masses of those different bodies and, in so far as the ratios are consistent, we obtain confirmation of the mass part. But we only obtain the ratios of the masses to the mass of some one member of the See also:system, say the earth. We do not find the mass in terms of grammes or pounds. In fact, See also:astronomy gives .us the product GM, but neither G nor M. For example, the acceleration of the earth towards the sun is about o•6 cm/sec.2 at a distance from it about 15X Io12 cm. The acceleration of the See also:moon towards the earth is about 0.27 cm/sec.2 at a distance from it about 4X Io10 cm. If S is the mass of the sun and E the mass of the earth we have o•6= GS/ (15Xio")2 and 0.27=GE/ (4Xlo'°)z giving us GS and GE, and the ratio S/E=3oo,000 roughly; but we do not obtain either S or E in grammes, and we do not find G. The aim of the experiments to be described here may be regarded either as the determination of the mass of the earth in grammes, most conveniently expressed by its mass-:-its See also:volume, that is by its " mean density " A, or the determination of the " gravitation constant " G. Corresponding to these two aspects of the problem there are two modes of attack. Suppose that a See also:body of mass m is suspended at the earth's See also:surface where it is pulled with a force w vertically downwards by the earth—its See also:weight. At the same See also:time let it be pulled with a force p by a measurable mass M which may be a See also:mountain, or some measurable part of the earth's surface layers, or an artificially prepared mass brought near m, and let the pull of M be the same as if it were concentrated at a distance d. The earth pull may be regarded as the same as if the earth were all concentrated at its centre, distant R. Then w=G. aR3,Am/See also:R2=G.,,rRRm, . . . . (I) and p=GMm/d2 (2) By See also:division =Rp4ldz' ' If then we can arrange to observe w/p we obtain A, the mean density of the earth. But the same observations give us G also. For, putting m=w/g in (2), we get In the second mode of attack the pull p between two artificially prepared measured masses M1, M2 is determined when they are a distance d apart, and since p= G.M1M2/d2 we get at once G=pd2/M,M2. But we can also deduce A. For putting to= mg.-in (I) we get O= Experiments of the first class in which the pull of a known mass is compared with the pull of the earth may be termed experiments on the mean density of the earth, while experiments of the second class in which the pull between two known masses is We shall, however, adopt a slightly different See also:classification for the purpose of describing methods of experiment, viz: I. Comparisonof the earth pull on a body with the pull of a natural mass as in the Schiehallion experiment. 2. Determination of the attraction between two artificial masses as in See also:Cavendish's experiment. 3. Comparison of the earth pull on a body with the pull of an artificial mass as in experiments with the See also:common See also:balance. It is interesting to See also:note that the possibility of gravitation experiments of this See also:kind was first considered by See also:Newton, and in both of the forms (I) and (2). In the System of the See also:World (3rd ed., 1737, p. 40) he calculates that the deviation by a hemispherical mountain, of the earth's density and with See also:radius 3 m., on a plumb-See also:line at its See also:side will be less than 2 minutes. He also calculates (though with an See also:error in his See also:arithmetic) the acceleration towards each other of two See also:spheres each a See also:foot in See also:diameter and of the earth's density, and comes to the conclusion that in either See also:case the effect is too small for measurement. In the Principia, bk. iii., prop. x., he makes a celebrated estimate that the earth's mean density is five or six times that of See also:water. Adopting this estimate, the deviation by an actual mountain or the attraction of two terrestrial spheres would be of the orders calculated, and regarded by Newton as immeasurably small. Whatever method is adopted the force to be measured is very See also:minute. This may be realized if we here anticipate the results of the experiments, which show that in See also:round See also:numbers A= 5.5 and G= 1/15,000,000 when the masses are in grammes and the distances in centimetres. Newton's mountain, which would probably have density about A/2 would deviate the plumb-line not much more than See also:half a minute. Two spheres 3o cm. in diameter (about 1 ft.) and of density 11 (about that of See also:lead) just not touching wo pull each other with a force rather less than 2 dyn6s and their acceleration would be such that they would move into contact if starting I cm. apart in rather over 400 seconds. From these examples it will be realized that in gravitation experiments extraordinary precautions must be adopted to eliminate disturbing forces which may easily rise to be comparable with the forces to be measured. We shall not See also:attempt to give an See also:account of these precautions, but only seek to set forth the See also:general principles of the different experiments which have been made. I. Comparison of the Earth Pull with that of a Natural Mass. See also:Bouguer's Experiments.—The earliest experiments were made by See also:Pierre Bouguer about 1740, and they are recorded in his Figure de la terre (1749). They were of two kinds. In the first he determined the length of the seconds pendulum, and thence g at different levels. Thus at See also:Quito, which may be regarded as on a table-See also:land 1466 toises (a toise is about 6.4 ft.) above See also:sea-level, the seconds pendulum was less by 1/1331 than on the Isle of Inca at sea-level. But if there were no matter above the sea-level, the inverse square law would make the pendulum less by 1/1118 at the higher level. The value of g then at the higher level was greater than could be accounted for by the attraction of an earth ending at sea-level by the difference 1/I118-1/1331= I/6983, and this was put down to the attraction of the See also:plateau 1466 toises high; or the attraction of the whole earth was 6983 times the attraction of the plateau. Using the See also:rule, now known as " See also:Young's rule," for the attraction of the plateau, Bouguer found that the density of the earth was 4.7 times that of the plateau, a result certainly much too large. In the second kind of experiment he attempted to measure the See also:horizontal. pull of Chimborazo, a mountain about 20,000 ft. high, by the deflection of a plumb-line at a station on its See also:south side. Fig. 1 shows the principle of the method. Suppose that two stations are fixed, one on the side of the mountain due south of the See also:summit, and the other on the same See also:latitude but some distance westward, away from the See also:influence of the mountain. Suppose that at the second station a See also:star is observed to pass the See also:meridian, for simplicity we will say directly overhead, then a iI z G=M wg. plumb-line will hang down exactly parallel to the observing See also:telescope. If the mountain were away it would also hang parallel to the telescope at the first station when directed to the same star. But the mountain pulls the plumb-line towards it and the star appears to the See also:north of the See also:zenith and evidently mountain pull/earth pull = tan-gent of See also:angle of displacement of zenith. Bouguer observed the meridian See also:altitude of several stars at the two stations. There was still some deflection at the second station, a deflection which he estimated as 1/14 that at the first station, and he found on allowing for this that his observations gave a deflection of 8 seconds at the first station. From the See also:form and See also:size of the mountain he found that if its density were that of the earth the deflection should be 103 seconds, or the earth was nearly 13 times as dense as the mountain, a result several times too large. But the See also:work was carried on under enormous difficulties owing to the severity of the See also:weather, and no exactness could be expected. The importance of the experiment See also:lay in its See also:proof that the method was possible.
See also:Maskelyne's Experiment.—In 1774 Nevil Maskelyne (Phil. Trans., 1775, p. 495) made an experiment on the deflection of the plumb-line by Schiehallion, a mountain in See also:Perthshire, which has a See also:short See also:ridge nearly See also:east and See also:west, and sides sloping steeply on the north and south. He selected two stations on the same meridian, one on the north, the other on the south slope, and by means of a zenith sector, a telescope provided with a plumb-bob, he determined at each station the meridian zenith distances of a number of stars. From a survey of the See also:district made in the years 1774-1776 the See also:geographical difference of latitude between the two stations was found to be 42'94 seconds, and this would have been the difference in the meridian zenith difference of the same star at the two stations had the mountain been away. But at the north station the plufnb-bob was pulled south and the zenith was deflected northwards, while at the south station the effect was reversed. Hence the angle between the zeniths, or the angle between the zenith distances of the same star at the two stations was greater than the geographical 42.94 seconds. The mean of the observations gave a difference of 54.2 seconds, or the See also:double deflection of, the plumb-line was 54.2-42'94, say 11.26 seconds.
The computation of the attraction of the mountain on the supposition that its density was that of the earth was made by See also: 689), a computation carried out by ingenious and importane,''methods. He found that the deflection should have been greater in the ratio 17804 : 9933 say 9 : 5, whence the density of the earth comes out at 9/5 that of the mountain. Hutton took the density of the mountain at 2.5, giving the mean density of the earth 4.5. A revision of the density of the mountain from a careful survey of the rocks composing it was made by See also: Trans., 1856, p. 591), using the plumb-line deflection at See also:Arthur's Seat, by T. C. Mendenhall (Amer. Jour. of Sci. xxi. p. 99), using the pendulum method on Fujiyama in See also:Japan, and by E. D. See also:Preston (U.S. See also:Coast and Geod. Survey See also:Rep., X893, p. 513) in See also:Hawaii, using both methods. See also:Airy's Experiment.—In 1854 Sir G. B. Airy (Phil. Trans.. 1856, p. 297) carried out at Harton See also:pit near South See also:Shields an experiment which he had attempted many years before in See also:con-junction with W. See also:Whewell and R. See also:Sheepshanks at Dolcoath. This consisted in comparing gravity at the See also:top and at the bottom of a mine by the swings of the same pendulum, and thence finding the ratio of the pull of the intervening strata to the pull of the whole earth. The principle of the method may be understood by assuming that the earth consists of concentric spherical shells each homogeneous, the last of thickness h equal to the See also:depth of the mine. Let the radius of the earth to the bottom of the mine be R, and the mean density up to that point be A. This will not differ appreciably from the mean density of the whole. Let the density of the strata of depth h be 6. Denoting the values of gravity above and below by ga and gb we have a'ER'4= G. s xRO, ] gb=G3 RZJ and ga=Gt(R+h)+G.4zrhE (since the attraction of a See also:shell h thick on a point just outside it is G.41r(R+h)2hi /(R+h)2 = G.47rhb). Therefore ga=G.gzRO(1 - R+ R.a) nearly, Ia= I_2h 3h E gb R A' and R'( - +R+gS) Stations were chosen in the same See also:vertical, one near the pit See also:bank, another 1250 ft. below in a disused working, and a " comparison " See also:clock was fixed at each station. A third clock was placed at the upper station connected by an electric See also:circuit to the See also:lower station. It gave an electric See also:signal every 15 seconds by which the rates of the two comparison clocks could be accurately compared. Two " invariable " seconds pendulums were swung, one in front of the upper and the other in front of the lower comparison clock after the manner of See also:Kater, and these invariables were interchanged at intervals. From continuous observations extending over three See also:weeks and after applying various corrections Airy obtained gb/ga= 1.00005185. Making corrections for the irregularity of the neighbouring strata he found A/S = 2.6266. W. H. See also:Miller made a careful determination of from specimens of the strata, finding it 2.5. The final result taking into account the See also:ellipticity and rotation.of the earth is A=6.565. Von Sterneck's Experiments.—(Mitth. See also:des K.U.K. Mil. Geog. Inst. zu Wien, ii., 1882, p• 77; 1883, p. 59; vi., 1886, p. 97). R. von Sterneck repeated the mine experiment in 1882-1883 at the See also:Adalbert See also:shaft at See also:Pribram in Bohemia and in 1885 at the See also:Abraham shaft near See also:Freiberg. He used two invariable half-seconds pendulums, one swung at the surface, the other below at the same time. The two were at intervals interchanged. Von Sterneck. introduced a most important improvement by comparing the swings of the two invariables with the same clock which by an electric circuit gave a signal at each station each second. This eliminated clock rates. His method, of which it is not necessary to give the details here, began a new era in the determinations of See also:local See also:variations of gravity. The values which von Sterneck obtained for A were not consistent, but increased with the depth of the second station. This was probably due to local irregularities in the strata which could not be directly detected. All the experiments to determine A by the attraction of natural masses are open to the serious objection that we cannot determine the See also:distribution of density in the neighbourhood with any approach to accuracy. The experiments with artificial masses next to be described give much more consistent results, and the experiments with natural masses are now only of use 1'4 Station Due.South of Summit On SfoOe N 2.4 Station Duo IV *Oa z First Station 4 s i f whence W D m N g m 0 0 ~ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \\ \ \ \ \ \m w l p h h, torsion See also:rod hung by See also:wire 1 g,; x,x, attracted balls hung from its ends; WW, attracting masses. hung by a wire lg. From its ends depended two lead balls xx each 2 in. in diameter. The position of the rod was determined by a See also:scale fixed near the end of the See also:arm, the arm itself carrying a See also:vernier moving along the scale. This was lighted by a See also:lamp and viewed by a telescope T from the outside of the See also:room containing the apparatus. The torsion balance was enclosed in a case and outside this two lead spheres WW each 12 in. in diameter hung from an arm which could turn round an See also:axis Pp in the line of gl. Suppose that first the spheres are placed so that one is just in front of the right-See also:hand See also:ball x and the other is just behind the See also:left-hand ball x. The two will conspire to pull the balls so that the right end of the rod moves forward. Now let the big spheres be moved round so that one is in front of the left ball and the other behind the right ball. The pulls are reversed and the right end moves backward. The angle between its two positions is (if we neglect See also:cross attractions of right See also:sphere on left ball and left sphere on right ball) four times as See also:great as the deflection of the rod due to approach of one sphere to one ball. The principle of the experiment may be set forth thus. Let 2a be the length of the torsion rod, m the mass of a ball, M the mass of a large sphere, d the distance between the centres, supposed the same on each side. Let B be the angle through which the rod moves round when the spheres WW are moved from the first to the second of the positions described above. Let µ be the couple required to twist the rod through 1 radian. Then µ6=4GMma/d2. Butµ can be found from the time of vibration of the torsion system when we know its moment of inertia I, and this can be determined. If T is the See also:period µ=4x2I/T2, whence G=x2d2Ie/T2Mma, or putting the result in terms of the mean density of the earth 0 it is easy to show that, if L, the length of the seconds pendulum, is put for gx2, and C for 2xR, the earth's circumference, then _ L Mma T2 . —C d'I B The See also:original account by Cavendish is still well See also:worth studying in showing the existence of irregularities in the earth's superficial strata when they give results deviating largely from the accepted value. II. Determination of the Attraction between two Artificial Masses. Cavendish's Experiment (Phil. Trans., 1798, p. 469).—This celebrated experiment was planned by the Rev. John See also:Michell. He completed an apparatus for it but did not live to begin work with it. After Michell's See also:death the apparatus came into the See also:possession of Henry Cavendish, who largely reconstructed it, but still adhered to Michell's See also:plan, and in 1797—1798 he carried out the experiment. The essential feature of it consisted in the determination of the attraction of a lead sphere 12 in. in diameter on another lead sphere 2 M. in diameter, the distance between the centres being about 9 in,, by means of a torsion balance. Fig. 2 shows how the experiment was carried out. A torsion rod hh 6 ft. See also:long, tied from its ends to a vertical piece mg, was387 on account of the excellence of his methods. His work was undoubtedly very accurate for a See also:pioneer experiment and has only really been improved upon within the last See also:generation. Making various corrections of which it is not necessary to give a description, the result obtained (after correcting a See also:mistake first pointed out by F. See also:Baily) is A= 5.448. In seeking the origin of the disturbed See also:motion of the torsion rod Cavendish made a very important observation. He found that when the masses were left in one position for a time the attracted balls crept now in one direction, now in another, as if the attraction were varying. Ultimately he found that this was due to convection currents in the case containing the torsion rod, currents produced by temperature inequalities. When a large sphere was heated the ball near it tended to approach and when it was cooled the ball tended to recede. Convection currents constitute the See also:chief disturbance and the chief source of error in all attempts to measure small forces in See also:air at See also:ordinary pressure. Reich's Experiments (Versuche caber See also:die mittlere Dichtigkeit der Erde mittelst der Drehwage, Freiberg, 1838; " Neue Versuche mit der Drehwage," See also:Leipzig Abh. Math. Phys. i., 1852, p. 383).—In 1838 F. Reich published an account of a repetition of the Cavendish experiment carried out on the same general lines, though with somewhat smaller apparatus. The chief See also:differences consisted in the methods of measuring the times of vibration and the deflection, and the changes were hardly improvements. His result after revision was A=5.49. In 1852 he published an account of further work giving as result A= 5.58. It is noteworthy that in his second See also:paper he gives an account of experiments suggested by J. D. See also:Forbes in which the deflection was not observed directly, but was deduced from observations of the time of vibration when the attracting masses were in different positions. Let Ti be the time of vibration when the masses are in one of the usual attracting positions. Let d be the distance between the centres of attracting mass and attracted ball, and S the distance through which the ball is pulled. If a is the half length of the torsion rod and B the deflection, S=aa. Now let the attracting masses be put one at each end of the torsion rod with their centres in the line through the centres of the balls and d from them, and let T2 be the time of vibration. Then it is easy to show that Sid =a8/d = (Tl -T2)/(TI+T2). This gives a value of 0 which may be used in the See also:formula. The experiments by this method were not consistent, and the mean result was 0=6.25. Baily's Experiment (See also:Memoirs of the Royal Astron. See also:Soc. xiv.).—In 1841—1842 See also:Francis Baily made a long See also:series of determinations by Cavendish's method and with apparatus nearly of the same dimensions. The attracting masses were 12-in. lead spheres and as attracted balls he used various masses, lead, See also:zinc, See also:glass, See also:ivory, See also:platinum, hollow See also:brass, and finally the torsion rod alone without balls. The suspension was also varied, sometimes consisting of a single wire, sometimes being bifilar. There were systematic errors See also:running through Baily's work, which it is impossible now wholly to explain. These made the resulting value of A show a variation with the nature of the attracted masses and a variation with the temperature. His final result A = 5.6747 is not of value compared with later results. See also:Cornu and Baille's Experiment (Comptes rendus, lxxvi., 1873, p. 954; lxxxvi., 1878, pp. 571, 699, 1001; xcvi., 1883, p. 1493).—In 187o MM. A. Cornu and J. Baille commenced an experiment by the Cavendish method which was never definitely completed, though valuable studies of the behaviour of the torsion apparatus were made. They purposely departed from the dimensions previously used. The torsion balls were of See also:copper about 100 gm. each, the rod was 50 cm. long, and the suspending wire was 4 metres long. On each side of each ball was a hollow See also:iron sphere. Two of these were filled with See also:mercury weighing 12 kgm., the two spheres of mercury constituting the attracting masses. When the position of a mass was to be changed the mercury was pumped from the sphere on one side to that on the other side of a ball. To avoid counting time a method of electric See also:registration on a See also:chronograph was adopted. A provisional result was A—5.56. Boys's Experiment (Phil. Trans., A., 1895, pt. i., p. 1).—See also:Professor C. V. Boys having found that it is possible to draw See also:quartz See also:fibres of practically any degree of fineness, of great strength and true in their See also:elasticity, determined to repeat the Cavendish experiment, using his newly invented fibres for the suspension of the torsion rod. He began by an inquiry as to the best dimensions for the apparatus. He saw that if the period of vibration is kept constant, that is, if the moment of inertia I is kept proportional to the torsion couple per radian µ, then the deflection remains the same however the linear dimensions are altered so long as they are all altered in the same proportion. Hence we are driven to conclude that the dimensions should be reduced until further reduction would make the linear quantities too small to be measured with exactness, for reduction in the apparatus enables variations in temperature and the consequent air disturbances to be reduced, and the experiment in other ways becomes more manageable. Professor Boys took as the exactness to be sought for i in ro,000. He further saw that reduction in length of the torsion rod with given balls is an See also:advantage. For if the rod be halved the moment of inertia is one-See also:fourth, and if the suspending fibre is made finer so that the torsion couple per radian is also one-fourth the time remains the same. But the moment of the attracting force is halved only, so that the deflection against one-fourth torsion is doubled. In Cavendish's arrangement there would be an See also:early limit to the advantage in reduction of rod in that the mass opposite one ball would begin seriously to attract the other ball. But Boys avoided this difficulty by See also:sus-pending the balls from the ends of the torsion rod at different levels and by placing the attracting masses at these different levels. Fig. 3 represents diagrammatic-ally a vertical See also:section of the arrangement used on a scale l of about 1/ro. The torsion rod was a small rect- angular See also:mirror about 2.4 cm. Fig. 3.—See also:Diagram of a Section of Professor wide hung by a Boys's Apparatus. quartz fibre about 43 cm. long. From the sides of this mirror the balls were hung by quartz fibres at levels differing by 15 cm. The balls were of See also:gold either about 5 mm. in diameter and weighing about. l•3 gm. or about 6.5 mm. in diameter and weighing 2.65 gm. The attracting masses were lead spheres, about ro cm. in diameter and weighing' about 7.4 kgm. each. These were suspended from the top of the case which could be rotated round the central See also:tube, and they were arranged so that the radius to the centre from the axis of the torsion system made 65° with the torsion rod, the position in which the moment of the attraction was a maximum. The torsion rod mirror reflected a distant scale by which the deflection could he read. The time of vibration was recorded on a chrono- graph. The result of the experiment, probably the best yet made, was A=5.527, G=6.658Xro—$. Braun's Experiment (Denkschr. Akad. Wiss. Wien, math.-naturw. Cl. 64, p. 187, 1896).—In 1896 Dr K. Braun, S.J., gave an account of a very careful and excellent repetition of the Cavendish experiment with apparatus much smaller than was used in the older experiments, yet much larger than that used by Boys. A notable feature of the work consisted in the suspension of the torsion apparatus in a See also:receiver exhausted to about 4 mm. of mercury, a pressure at which convection currents almost disappear while " See also:radiometer " forces have hardly• begun. For other ingenious arrangements the original paper or a short abstract in Nature, lvi., 1897, p. 127, may be consulted. The attracted balls weighed 54 gm. each and were 25 cm. apart. The attracting masses were spheres of mercury each weighing 9 kgm. and brought into position outside the receiver. Braun used both the deflection method and the time of vibration method suggested to Reich by Forbes. The methods gave almost identical results and his final values are to three decimal places the same as those obtained by Boys. G. K. See also:Burgess's Experiment (Theses presentees a la faculte des sciences de See also:Paris pour obtenir le titre de docteur de l'universite de Paris, i9or).—This was a Cavendish experiment in which the torsion system was buoyed up by a See also:float in a mercury See also:bath. The attracted masses could thus be made large, and yet the suspending wire could be kept See also:fine. The torsion See also:beam was 12 cm. long, and the attracted balls were lead spheres each 2 kgm. From the centre of the beam depended a vertical See also:steel rod with a varnished copper hollow float at its end, entirely immersed in mercury. The surface of the mercury was covered with dilute sulphuric See also:acid to remove irregularities due to varying surface tension acting on the steel rod. The size.of the float was adjusted so that the torsion fibre of quartz 35 cm. long had only to carry a weight of 5 to 10 gm. The time of vibration was over one See also:hour. The torsion couple per radian was determined by preliminary experiments. The attracting masses were each ro kgm. turning in a circle 18 cm. in diameter. The results gave A= 5.55 and G=6.64Xro $. See also:Eotvos's Experiment (See also:Ann. der Physik and Chemie, 1896, 59, p. 354).—In the course of investigations on local variations of gravity by means of the torsion balance, R. Eotvos devised a method for determining G somewhat like the vibration method used by Reich and Braun. Two pillars were built up of lead blocks 30 em. square in cross section, 6o cm. high and 3o cm. apart. A torsion rod somewhat less than 3o cm. long with small weights at the ends was enclosed in a double-walled brass case of as little depth as possible, a See also:device which secured great steadiness through freedom from convection currents. The suspension was a platinum wire about 150 cm. long. The torsion rod was fizst set in the line joining the centres of the pillars and its time of vibration was taken. Then it was set with its length perpendicular to the line joining the centres and the time again taken. From these times Eotvos was able to deduce G = 6.65 X ro$ whence A = 5.53. This is only a See also:pro-visional value. The experiment was only as it were a by-product in the course of exceedingly ingenious work on the local variation in gravity for which the original paper should be consulted. Wilsing's Experiment (Publ. des astrophysikalischen Observ. zu See also:Potsdam, 1887, No. 22, vol. Vi. pt. ii.; pt. iii. p. 133).—We may perhaps class with the Cavendish type an experiment made by J. Wilsing, in which a vertical " double pendulum " was used in See also:place of a horizontal torsion system. Two weights each 540 gm. were fixed at the ends of a rod r See also:metre long. A See also:knife edge was fixed on the rod just above its centre of gravity, and this was supported so that the rod could vibrate about a vertical position. Two attracting masses, See also:cast-iron cylinders each 325 kgm., were placed, say, one in front of the top weight on the pendulum and the other behind the bottom weight, and the position of the rod was observed in the usual mirror and scale way. Then the front attracting mass was dropped to the level of the lower weight and the back mass was raised to that of the upper weight, and the consequent deflection of the rod was 11 aft 1911{ills Ilgllllil observed. By taking the time of vibration of the pendulum first as used in the deflection experiment and then when a small weight was removed from the upper end a known distance from the knife edge, the restoring couple per radian deflection could be found. The final result gave 0= 5'579. J. Joly's suggested Experiment (Nature xli., 189o, p. 256).—Joly has suggested that G might be determined by See also:hanging a See also:simple pendulum in a vacuum, and vibrating outside the case two massive pendulums each with the same time of See also:swing as the simple pendulum. The simple pendulum would be set swinging by the varying attraction and from its See also:amplitude after a known number of swings of the outside pendulums G could be found. Artificial Mass by Means of the Common Balance. The principle of the method is as follows:—Suppose a sphere of mass m and weight w to be hung by a wire from one arm of a balance. Let the mass of the earth be E and its radius be R. Then w = See also:GEm/R2. Now introduce beneath m a sphere of mass M and let d be the distance of its centre from that of m. Its pull increases the apparent weight of m say by bw. Then bw=GMm/d2. Dividing we obtain bw/w=MR2/Ed2, whence E = MR2w/d2bw; and since g = GE/R2, G can be found when E is known. Von See also:Jolly's Experiment (Abhand. der le. bayer. Akad. der Wiss. 2 Cl. xiii. Bd. 1 See also:Abt. p. 157, and xiv. Bd. 2 Abt. p. 3).—In the first of these papers Ph. von Jolly described an experiment in which he sought to determine the decrease in weight with increase of height from the earth's surface, an experiment suggested by See also: The experiment in the form carried out by von Jolly was attempted by H. See also:Power, R. See also:Hooke, and others in the early days of the Royal Society (See also:Mackenzie, The See also:Laws of Gravitation). Von Jolly fixed a balance at the top of his laboratory and from each See also:pan depended a wire supporting another pan 5 metres below. Two 1-kgm. weights were first balanced in the upper pans and then one was moved from an upper to the lower pan on the same side. A gain of 1.5 mgm. was observed after correction for greater weight of air displaced at the lower level. The inverse square law would give a slightly greater gain and the deficiency was ascribed to the configuration of the land near the laboratory. In the second paper a second experiment was described in which a balance was fixed at the top of a See also:tower and provided as before with one pair of pans just below the arms and a second pair hung from these by wires 21 metres below. Four glass globes were prepared equal in weight and volume. Two of these were filled each with 5 kgm. of mercury and then all were sealed up. The two heavy globes were then placed in the upper pans and the two See also:light ones in the lower. The two on one side were now interchanged and a gain in weight of about 31.7 mgm. was observed. Air corrections were eliminated by the use of the globes of equal volume. Then a lead sphere about 1 metre radius was built up of blocks under one of the lower pans and the experiment was repeated. Through the attraction of the lead sphere on the mass of mercury when below the gain was greater by o.589 mgm. This result gave 0 = 5.692. Experiment of Richarz and Krigar-See also:Menzel (Anhang zu den Abhand. der k. preuss. Akad. der Wiss. zu See also:Berlin, 1898).—In 1884 A See also:Konig and F. Richarz proposed a similar experiment which was ultimately carried out by Richarz and 0. Krigar-Menzel. In this experiment a balance was supported somewhat more than 2 metres above the See also:floor and with. scale pans above and below as in vun Jolly's experiment. Weights each 1 kgm. were placed, say, in the top right pan and the bottom left pan.' Then they were shifted to the bottom right and the top left, the 'result being, after corrections for See also:change in density of air displaced through pressure and temperature changes, a gain in weight of 1.2453 mgm. on the right due to change in level of 2.2628 metres. Then a rectangular See also:column of lead 210 cm. square cross section and 200 cm. high was built up under the balance between the pairs of pans. The column was perforatedwith two vertical tunnels for the passage of the wires supporting the lower pans. On repeating the weighings there was now a decrease on the right when a kgm. was moved on that side from top to bottom while another was moved on the left from bottom to top. This decrease was o.1211 mgm. showing a See also:total change due to the lead mass of 1.2453 + 0'1211 = 1.3664 mgm. and this is obviously four times the attraction of the lead mass on one kgm. The changes in the positions of the weights were made automatically. The results gave 0 = 5.05 and G = 6.685 X ro 8. Poynting's Experiment (Phil. Trans., vol. 182, A, 1891, p. 565).—In 1878 J. H. Poynting published an account of a preliminary experiment which he had made to show that the common balance was available for gravitational work. The experiment was on the same lines as that of von Jolly but on a much smaller scale. In 1891 he gave an account of the full experiment carried out with a larger balance and with much greater care. The balance had a 4-ft. beam. The scale pans were removed, and from the two arms were hung lead spheres each weighin~,g about 20 kgm. at a level about 120 cm. below the beam. The balance was supported in a case above a horizontal turn-table with axis vertically below the central knife edge, and on this turn-table was a lead sphere weighing 150 kgm.—the attracting mass. The centre of this sphere was 30 cm. below the level of the centres of the hanging weights. The turn-table could be rotated between stops so that the attracting mass was first immediately below the hanging weight on one side, and then immediately under that on the other side. On the same turn-table but at double the distance from the centre was a second sphere of half the weight introduced merely to balance the larger sphere and keep the centre of gravity at the centre of the turn-table. Before the introduction of this sphere errors were introduced through the tilting of the floor of the balance room when the turn-table was rotated. Corrections of course had to be made for the attraction of this second sphere. The removal of the large mass from left to right made an increase in weight on that side of about 1 mgm. determined by riders in a See also:special way described in the paper. To eliminate the attraction on the beam and the rods supporting the hanging weights another experiment was made in which these weights were moved up the rods through 30 cm. and on now moving the attracting sphere from left to right the gain on the right was only about mgm. The difference, mgm., was due entirely to change in distance of the attracted masses. After all corrections the results gave 0= 5'493 and G = 6.698 X 10-8. Fined Remarks.—The earlier methods in which natural masses were used have disadvantages, as already pointed out, which render them now quite valueless. Of later methods the Cavendish appears to possess advantages over the common balance method in that it is more easy to See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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