There are quite a few fundamental constants. These are things like the speed of light (c) the charge on an electron (e), and the Planck constant (h). These constants are determined with some type of ...

The Force is With You? You may have heard that gravity isn’t a force. This is true. Gravity is not a force; however, this truth leaves us with a number of questions. For example, we’re commonly told ...

Physicists have measured the smallest gravitational field ever recorded, in an experiment that could help in the search for a unified theory of physics. Of the four fundamental forces known to physics ...

Legend has it that Isaac Newton had the moment of inspiration that would lead to his theory of gravity when, on a warm afternoon, he saw an apple fall from a tree and wondered why it should fall down ...

At the end of the 18th century, the British scientist Henry Cavendish measured the force of gravity between two objects for the first time in a laboratory. The objects in question were lead balls, one ...

Gravity is the force of action between two objects. It’s called a natural force because it acts at a distance rather than needing to be in contact. Gravity is the force that holds us down on Earth and ...

Physicist Markus Aspelmeyer vividly remembers the day, nearly a decade ago, that a visitor to his lab declared the gravitational pull of his office chair too weak to measure. Measurable or not, this ...

In just under a week the European Space Agency (ESA) will launch its LISA Pathfinder spacecraft on a Vega rocket. Buried within the vessel are two cubes made of gold-platinum which, scientists hope, ...

As far as physicists have been able to determine, nature speaks two mutually unintelligible languages: one for gravity and one for everything else. Curves in the fabric of space-time tell planets and ...

When you travel through the Universe, it isn't just a free ride through empty space. Although you might not think about it very often, there are forces arising from the presence of everything else, ...