Glasperlenspiel: Scientists Propose New Test for Gravity

ScienceDaily (Sep. 13, 2010) — A new experiment proposed by physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) may allow researchers to test the effects of gravity with unprecedented precision at very short distances -- a scale at which exotic new details of gravity's behavior may be detectable.

This will be interesting to see what, if anything they will find out from this new experiment they are proposing.

Of the four fundamental forces that govern interactions in the universe, gravity may be the most familiar, but ironically it is the least understood by physicists.

That is true, we don't know much about gravity, I'm hoping this experiment will shed some light on how gravity works at tiny level:

According to the research team, the proposed experiment would permit the testing of gravity's effects on particles separated by 1/1,000 the diameter of a human hair, which could ultimately allow Newton's law to be tested with a sensitivity 100,000 times better than existing experiments.

I want to see the result..

Anyways, what do you guys think, any scientists around can explain the details of what this experiment will prove or disprove, or create understandings of?

"Progress in the scientific community comes not just from individual experiments, but from new ideas,"

www.sciencedaily.com...

It amazes me that at the very least we are beginning to refine our control of the forces of nature. Being able to measure such microscopic effects of gravity may help us develop nanomachinery that could - given the chance - improve the lot of mankind drastically. S & F'd

reply to post by oozyism


Cool, have you heard of GEO 600?

en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by alba2026
reply to post by oozyism

 

Cool, have you heard of GEO 600?

en.wikipedia.org...

Very interesting, the article suggests the detector has many obstacles to tackle before the data can be properly analyzed:

It is also a very common occurrence for gravitational wave detectors to find excess noise that is subsequently eliminated. According to Karsten Danzmann, the GEO 600 principal investigator, "The daily business of improving the sensitivity of these experiments always throws up some excess noise (...). We work to identify its cause, get rid of it and tackle the next source of excess noise."[3] Additionally, some new estimates of the level of holographic noise in interferometry show that it must be much smaller in magnitude than was claimed by Hogan.[8]

en.wikipedia.org...
I suspect that is why they came up with a new experiment.

I really should draw pictures
or make a video of this, but try motion.

Tennis ball
. falls a meter
.
.
.
.
.
.
8
9
10 falls about this far in a second.


Now everyone knows it bounces,
and again, and again. Getting smaller
each time. Well lets use a super zoom
and go in and look in greater detail at the bounce.


9.0
.
.
9.9

not small enough

9.800
.
.
9.900

the tenis ball is now so large on our screen
that it doesn't even look round
not small enough yet
though

9.800000
.
.
9.900000

now were getting somewhere.

the tenis ball is now so large on our screen
and the fibers of the surface so much larger than
sky scrapers that we are looking at an alien world.

The question physics has, and I submit has always had,
is 'at what point does the ball stop bouncing and lay still.

Because everytime they look they cant find it, they think it
is smaller than what can be measured, or faster than recorded.

I would advise physicists to research equilibrium with
environment to solve this. And I'm sure many do.

[color=gold]but in this particular case they want to see
more about gravity itself, so the fact that
the tennis ball can just quiver forever
is quite usefull at such micro scale.
All the little hairs and fibers
shedding their energy.

It's the hubble of
cannon ball
physics.


David Grouchy

reply to post by davidgrouchy


thanks that was quiet helpful..



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