What major obstacle did Henry Cavendish face when measuring the gravitational force between two objects on Earth?
A) The masses required had to be very small.
B) The gravitational force between the two masses
was very small.
C) The distance between the two masses had to be
extremely large.
D) The gravitational force between the two masses
was extremely large.
B) The gravitational force between the two masses was very small.
can u pls explain to me y is it the and B)
....thank you very much elena .... :-)
Gravitational force is F=G•m1•m2/R²,
where the gravitational constant G = 6.67•10^-11 N•m²/kg².
This constant is very small, therefore, the gravitational interaction between usual objects is very small too.
The correct answer is B) The gravitational force between the two masses was very small.
To understand why, let's first explain Cavendish's experiment. Henry Cavendish was a British scientist who conducted a famous experiment in the late 18th century to determine the value of the gravitational constant and measure the gravitational force between two objects.
In Cavendish's experiment, he used a torsion balance, which is essentially a rod with two small masses attached to it horizontally. The larger masses were fixed to a frame and placed close to the smaller masses but not in contact with them.
The major obstacle Cavendish faced was that the gravitational force between the two masses was very weak. This is due to the fact that the gravitational force decreases rapidly with distance. Since Cavendish wanted to measure very small forces, he needed to ensure that any other interfering forces (such as air currents or vibrations) were minimized. To achieve this, he conducted the experiment in a room with as little air disturbance as possible and used a delicate torsion balance to detect the small twisting effect caused by the gravitational force.
By measuring the tiny twisting motion of the torsion balance, Cavendish was able to indirectly calculate the gravitational force between the two masses and determine the value of the gravitational constant.
Therefore, option B) The gravitational force between the two masses was very small is the correct answer.