Thursday, 21 February 2019

newtonian gravity - Why is the gravitational constant so difficult to measure?


The gravitational constant seems to be very low precision. For example, in the Wikipedia article recent measurements are given as having the significands of 6.67 and 6.69, a difference of 2 parts in 1000. I don't understand why astronomical measurements cannot be used to gain a much more accurate value. The explanation in the Wikipedia, that the force is "weak" seems like a vague answer to me.


This imprecision is a problem for me because I would like to make a simulation model of the solar system based on gravitational attraction, but with a such an imprecise constant, I don't see how I can do this to any degree of useful accuracy.




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