So, gravity is one of the four known fundamental forces of nature, along with electromagnetism, the weak nuclear force, and the strong nuclear force. The weak nuclear force is related to nuclear decay and the strong nuclear force is what holds protons together in the nucleus of atoms.
Each of these forces has a "field strength" associated with it, which is a bit complicated and depends on the formula used to calculate the force of the interaction. In a nutshell, gravity is the weakest of the four forces... by a long shot.
If we normalise the "strength" of the gravitational force to 1, then the strength of the next-weakest force, the weak nuclear force, would be about
10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 = 1 * 10^25
Gravity also falls of as 1/r^2 or the inverse square of the distance between two masses (similar to the electromagnetic force). This means that gravity is only large for very large masses which are very close together. The best "experimental setup" we would have to measure the strength of the gravitational force would be the Earth-Moon system. This, of course, requires precisely knowing the masses of the Earth and Moon, though, which is also very difficult.
Only a few months ago, a new study was released, measuring the strength of the gravitational constant, G to a new level of precision -- an uncertainty of only11.6 parts per million. This is equivalent to a computer making 66,000 errors while copying a 6GB 4k HD movie.
For comparison, the current record for measuring the precision of α, the fine-structure constant, which is related to the strength of an electromagnetic field, is about 0.23 parts per billion. This is equivalent to a computer making (on average) 1.38 errors while copying that same 6GB movie.
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So tell me, are we anywhere close to measure gravity?
So, gravity is one of the four known fundamental forces of nature, along with electromagnetism, the weak nuclear force, and the strong nuclear force. The weak nuclear force is related to nuclear decay and the strong nuclear force is what holds protons together in the nucleus of atoms.
Each of these forces has a "field strength" associated with it, which is a bit complicated and depends on the formula used to calculate the force of the interaction. In a nutshell, gravity is the weakest of the four forces... by a long shot.
If we normalise the "strength" of the gravitational force to
1, then the strength of the next-weakest force, the weak nuclear force, would be aboutGravity also falls of as
1/r^2or the inverse square of the distance between two masses (similar to the electromagnetic force). This means that gravity is only large for very large masses which are very close together. The best "experimental setup" we would have to measure the strength of the gravitational force would be the Earth-Moon system. This, of course, requires precisely knowing the masses of the Earth and Moon, though, which is also very difficult.Only a few months ago, a new study was released, measuring the strength of the gravitational constant, G to a new level of precision -- an uncertainty of only 11.6 parts per million. This is equivalent to a computer making 66,000 errors while copying a 6GB 4k HD movie.
For comparison, the current record for measuring the precision of
α, the fine-structure constant, which is related to the strength of an electromagnetic field, is about 0.23 parts per billion. This is equivalent to a computer making (on average) 1.38 errors while copying that same 6GB movie.