• Question: how do you measure gravity?

    Asked by to Andrew, Elaine, Emma, Michael, Nancy on 19 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Andrew French

      Andrew French answered on 19 Jun 2014:

      Hi

      OK, you can measure the speed of gravity by dropping objects and timing how long they take to fall a certain distance. This should be done in a vacuum (air resistance can slow objects down, eg. Parachutes!) but you can get an idea by doing it in the classroom… Ask your teacher, they may have some ideas for an experiment 🙂

      That measures the speed objects fall due to gravity… Measuring /detecting gravity itself is much harder! In space, massive objects can actually bend light around themselves, in a way this is seeing gravity act. But any more than that I don’t know I’m afraid, we’re into particle physics now ! Try asking Brian Cox 🙂

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