Measuring Newton's gravitational constant G
G sets how strongly masses attract, and it is the least precisely known fundamental constant. Careful experiments disagree with each other by far more than their stated errors.
Why it matters
The scatter in G is a long-running failure of precision measurement that limits geophysics and astrophysics and may hide an unknown experimental effect.
Review
C. Rothleitner, S. Schlamminger, Invited Review Article: Measurements of the Newtonian constant of gravitation, G, Review of Scientific Instruments, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4994619 reference checked
Timestamp record
- Signed record
- e5522d18821c…
- Public log
- Entry 18, in checkpoint 2,123
- In the log by
- Block 969,698, 2026-10-03
This text was in the PubPhys log by that date. The date says nothing about when the problem was first posed.