Measurement of Newton's constant using a torsion balance with angular acceleration feedback

J H Gundlach; S M Merkowitz

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.2869

Measurement of Newton's constant using a torsion balance with angular acceleration feedback

Phys Rev Lett. 2000 Oct 2;85(14):2869-72. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.2869.

Authors

J H Gundlach¹, S M Merkowitz

Affiliation

¹ Department of Physics, Nuclear Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.

PMID: 11005956
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.2869

Abstract

We measured Newton's gravitational constant G using a new torsion balance method. Our technique greatly reduces several sources of uncertainty compared to previous measurements: (1) It is insensitive to anelastic torsion fiber properties; (2) a flat plate pendulum minimizes the sensitivity due to the pendulum density distribution; (3) continuous attractor rotation reduces background noise. We obtain G = (6.674215+/-0.000092) x 10(-11) m3 kg(-1) s(-2); the Earth's mass is, therefore, M = (5.972245+/-0.000082) x 10(24) kg and the Sun's mass is M = (1.988435+/-0.000027) x 10(30) kg.