物理学史上最美的十个实验第六名.docVIP

物理学史上最美的十个实验第六名 Cavendishs torsion-bar experiment 卡文迪许扭矩实验  Another of Newtons contributions was his theory of gravity, which holds that the strength of attraction between two objects increases with the square of their masses and decreases with the square of the distance between them. But how strong is gravity in the first place? In the late 1700s an English scientist, Henry Cavendish, decided to find out. He took a six-foot wooden rod and attached small metal spheres to each end, like a dumbbell, then suspended it from a wire. Two 350-pound lead spheres placed nearby exerted just enough gravitational force to tug at the smaller balls, causing the dumbbell to move and the wire to twist. By mounting finely etched pieces of ivory on the end of each arm and in the sides of the case, he could measure the subtle displacement. To guard against the influence of air currents, the apparatus (called a torsion balance) was enclosed in a room and observed with telescopes mounted on each side. The result was a remarkably accurate estimate of a parameter called the gravitational constant, and from that Cavendish was able to calculate the density and mass of the earth. Cavendish had weighed it: 6.0×1024 kilograms, or about 13 trillion trillion pounds. 牛顿的另一伟大贡献是他的万有引力定律，但是万有引力到底多大？ 18世纪末，英国科学家亨利·卡文迪许决定要找出这个引力。他将两边系有小金属球的6英尺木棒用金属线悬吊起来，这个木棒就像哑铃一样。再将两个350磅重的铅球放在相当近的地方，以产生足够的引力让哑铃转动，并扭转金属线。然后用自制的仪器测量出微小的转动。 测量结果惊人的准确，他测出了万有引力恒量的参数，在此基础上卡文迪许计算地球的密度和质量。卡文迪许的计算结果是：地球重6.0×1024公斤，或者说13万亿万亿磅。