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Gravitational constant
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Further information: Gravity of Earth and Standard gravity

The gravitational constant, approximately

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6.6731011N(m/kg) 2 and denoted by letter

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is an empirical physical constant

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calculation(s) of gravitational force between two

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involved in the

bodies. It usually appears in Sir Isaac Newton's

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law of universal gravitation , and in Albert

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Einstein's general theory of relativity . It is also

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known as the universal gravitational

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constant, Newton's constant, and

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colloquially as Big G.[1] It should not be

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confused with "small g" (g), which is the local

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gravitational field (equivalent to the free-fall

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acceleration[2]), especially that at the Earth's

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Special pages

G,

The gravitational constant G is a key quantity in

Newton's law of universal gravitation.

surface.

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1 Laws and constants

2 Dimensions, units, and magnitude
3 History of measurement

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4 The GM product
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References

Languages

8 External links

Asturianu

()

Catal

Laws and constants

[edit]

According to the law of universal gravitation, the attractive

force (F) between two bodies is directly

proportional to the product of their masses (m1 and m2), and inversely proportional to the square of the
distance, r, (inverse-square law ) between them:

etina
Dansk
Deutsch

The constant of proportionality , G, is the gravitational constant.

Eesti

Espaol

The gravitational constant is a physical constant that is difficult to measure with high accuracy.[3] In SI units,

Esperanto
Euskara

parentheses) is:[4]

the 2010 CODATA-recommended value of the gravitational constant (with standard uncertainty in

Franais

with relative standard uncertainty

1.2 10 4.[4]

Gaeilge
Galego

Dimensions, units, and magnitude

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_constant[04/01/2015 16:14:13]

[edit]

Gravitational constant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The dimensions assigned to the gravitational constant in the equation abovelength cubed, divided by
mass , and by time squared (in SI units, meters cubed per

Hrvatski

kilogram
per second squared)are those needed

Bahasa Indonesia

to balance the units of measurements in gravitational equations. However, these dimensions have

Italiano

fundamental significance in terms of Planck units; when expressed in SI units, the gravitational constant is

dimensionally and numerically equal to the cube of the Planck length divided by the product of the

Planck

mass and the square of Planck time .

Latvieu

In natural units , of which Planck units are a common example,

Lietuvi

speed of light ) may be set equalto1.

Magyar

G and other physical constants such as

G are derived from force in order to assist student

In many secondary school texts, the dimensions of

comprehension:

Bahasa Melayu
Nederlands

In cgs , G can be written as:

Norsk bokml
Norsk nynorsk

G can also be given as:

Polski
Portugus

Given the fact that the period

Romn

P of an object in circular orbit around a spherical object obeys

Simple English
Slovenina

where V is the volume inside the radius of the orbit, we see that

Slovenina

/ srpski
Suomi
Svenska

This way of expressing

G shows the relationship between the average density of a planet and the period of a

satellite orbiting just above its surface.

In some fields of astrophysics , where distances are measured in parsecs (pc), velocities in kilometers per
second (km/s) and masses in solar units (

Trke

), it is useful to express

G as:

Ting Vit

The gravitational force is extremely weak compared with other fundamental forces . For example, the
Edit links

gravitational force between an electron and proton one meter apart is approximately 10
electromagnetic force

between the same two particles is approximately

1028N.
Both

67N,

whereas the

these forces are weak

when compared with the forces we are able to

experience directly, but the electromagnetic force in this
example is some 39 orders of magnitude (i.e. 10 39 ) greater than the force of gravityroughly the same ratio
as the mass of the Sun

compared to a microgram.

History of measurement
The gravitational constant appears in

[edit]

Newton's law of universal gravitation, but it was not measured until

seventy-one years after Newton's death by Henry Cavendish with his Cavendish experiment, performed in
1798 (Philosophical Transactions 1798). Cavendish measured G implicitly, using a torsion balance
invented by the geologist Rev. John Michell . He used a horizontal

torsion beam
with lead balls whose inertia

(in relation to the torsion constant) he could tell by timing the beam's oscillation. Their faint attraction to

other balls placed alongside the beam was detectable by the deflection it caused. Cavendish's aim was not
actually to measure the gravitational
constant, but rather to measure the Earth's density relative to water,

through the precise knowledge of the gravitational interaction. In retrospect, the density that Cavendish
calculated implies a value for G of 6.754 10
The accuracy of the measured value of

11

m 3 kg 1 s 2.[5]

G has increased only modestly since the original Cavendish

experiment. G
is quite difficult to measure, as gravity is much weaker than other fundamental forces, and an
experimental apparatus cannot be separated from the gravitational influence of other bodies. Furthermore,
gravity has no established relation to other fundamental forces, so it does not appear possible to calculate it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_constant[04/01/2015 16:14:13]

c (the

Gravitational constant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

indirectly from other constants that can

be measured more accurately, as is done in some other areas of
physics.
Published values of G have varied rather broadly, and some recent measurements of high precision
are, in fact, mutually exclusive.[3][6] This led to the 2010 CODATA value by NIST having 20% increased
uncertainty than in 2006.[7]
Science,
Fixler et al described a new measurement of the gravitational constant

In the January 2007 issue of

by atom inferometry, reporting a value of G = 6.693(34) 1011 m 3 s 2 /kg. [8] An improved cold atom
measurement by Rosi et al was published in 2014 of G= 6.67191(99)1011m3 kg1s2.[9]
Under the assumption that the physics of

type Ia supernovae
are universal, analysis of observations of 580

type Ia supernovae has shown that the gravitational constant has varied by less than one part in ten billion
per year over the last nine billion years.[10]

The GM product

[edit]

Main article: Standard gravitational parameter

The quantity GMthe product of the gravitational constant and the mass of a given astronomical body such
as the Sun or the Earthis known as the standard gravitational parameter and is denoted .
Depending on
the body concerned, it may also be called the geocentric or heliocentric gravitational constant, among other
names.
This quantity gives a convenient simplification of various gravity-related formulas. Also, for celestial bodies
such as the Earth and the Sun, the value of the product GM is known much more accurately than each factor
independently. Indeed, the limited accuracy available for G often limits the accuracy of scientific
determination of such masses in the first place.
For Earth , using

as the symbol for the mass of the Earth, we have

Calculations in celestial mechanics

can also be carried out using the unit of solar mass rather than the

standard SI unit kilogram. In this case we use the Gaussian gravitational constant

k, where

and
is the astronomical unit ;
is the mean solar day ;
is the solar mass .
If instead of mean solar day we use the

sidereal year as our time unit, the value of ks is very close to 2 (k =

6.28315).
The standard gravitational parameter

GM appears as above in Newton's law of universal gravitation, as well

as in formulas for the deflection of light caused by gravitational lensing , in Kepler's laws of planetary
motion, and in the formula for

See also

escape velocity .

[edit]

Dirac large numbers hypothesis

Accelerating universe
Gravity expressed in terms of orbital period
Lunar Laser Ranging experiment
Cosmological constant
Gravitational coupling constant
Strong gravitational constant

Notes

[edit]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_constant[04/01/2015 16:14:13]

Physics portal

Gravitational constant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1. ^ Gundlach, Jens H.; Merkowitz, Stephen M. (2002-12-23). "University of Washington Big G

Measurement"

. Astrophysics Science Division. Goddard Space Flight Center. "Since

Cavendish

first measured Newton's Gravitational constant 200 years ago,

"Big D" remains one of the most
elusive constants in physics."
2. ^ Fundamentals of Physics 8ed, Halliday/Resnick/Walker, ISBN 978-0-470-04618-0 p336
3. ^ a b George T. Gillies (1997), "The Newtonian gravitational constant: recent measurements and
related studies"

, Reports on Progress in Physics 60 (2): 151225,

Bibcode:1997RPPh...60..151G

, doi:10.1088/0034-4885/60/2/001

. A lengthy, detailed review.

See Figure 1 and Table 2 in particular.

4. ^ a b P.J.
Mohr, B.N. Taylor, and D.B. Newell (2011), "The 2010 CODATA Recommended
Values of
the Fundamental Physical Constants" (Web Version 6.0). This database was developed by J.
Baker, M. Douma, and S. Kotochigova. Available: http://physics.nist.gov/constants

[Thursday,

02-Jun-2011 21:00:12 EDT]. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD

20899.
5. ^ Brush, Stephen G.; Holton, Gerald James (2001), Physics, the human adventure: from
Copernicus to Einstein and beyond, New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press, p.137, ISBN08135-2908-5
6. ^ Peter J. Mohr; Barry N. Taylor (January 2005), "CODATA recommended values of the
fundamental physical constants: 2002"
Bibcode:2005RvMP...77....1M

(PDF), Reviews of Modern Physics 77 (1): 1107,

, doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.77.1

, retrieved 2006-07-01. Section

Q (pp. 4247) describes the mutually inconsistent measurement experiments from which the
CODATA value for G was derived.
7. ^ "CODATA recommended values of the fundamental physical constants: 2010"
84. 13 November 2012. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.84.1527

. Rev Mod Phys,

8. ^ J. B. Fixler; G. T. Foster; J. M. McGuirk; M. A. Kasevich (2007-01-05), "Atom Interferometer

Measurement of the Newtonian Constant of Gravity"
Bibcode:2007Sci...315...74F

, Science 315 (5808): 7477,

, doi:10.1126/science.1135459

, PMID17204644

9. ^ Schlamminger, Stephan (18 June 2014). "Fundamental constants: A cool way to measure big G".
Nature. Bibcode:2014Natur.510..478S

. doi:10.1038/nature13507

10. ^ J. Mould; S. A. Uddin (2014-04-10), "Constraining a Possible Variation of G with Type Ia

Supernovae"

, Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia 31: e015, arXiv:1402.1534

Bibcode:2014PASA...31...15M

References

, doi:10.1017/pasa.2014.9

[edit]

E. Myles Standish. "Report of the IAU WGAS Sub-group on Numerical Standards". In Highlights of
Astronomy, I. Appenzeller, ed. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1995. (Complete report
available online: PostScript
and Parameters

; PDF

. Tables from the report also available: Astrodynamic Constants

Jens H. Gundlach; Stephen M. Merkowitz (2000), "Measurement of Newton's Constant Using a Torsion
Balance with Angular Acceleration Feedback", Physical Review Letters 85 (14): 28692872, arXiv:grqc/0006043

, Bibcode:2000PhRvL..85.2869G

, doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.2869

PMID11005956

External links

[edit]

Newtonian constant of gravitation

at the National Institute of Standards and Technology References

on Constants, Units, and Uncertainty

The Controversy over Newton's Gravitational Constant

additional commentary on measurement

problems
Categories : Gravitation

Fundamental constants

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