So, What’s Holding You Back? Musings on Gravity

10-year experiment reveals why gravity is so hard to measure

For centuries, one of the most important numbers in physics has evaded accurate identification. The results of a recent experiment by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the US could help bring us closer to a satisfying answer.Continue ReadingCategory: Physics, ScienceTags: Gravity, Physics, Measured

So, what’s holding you back? Musings on gravity

Just as the framework of the known universe is a mind-bending puzzle, so is the elemental force that seems, incongruously, to hold it all together.  But before we get to that, let’s acknowledge that we ordinary stargazing folk are often numbed by the immensity of the space/time/motion continuum. Many of us can barely grasp, if at all, the numbers involved in “measuring” distance. Even when abbreviated, say, to a light-year, or an AU (or au for a…