The Cavendish Experiment

The quantities ml and ms are the masses of two objects whose spatial separation is R. The value of the constant of proportionality, G, was not known to Newton and, in fact, was not accurately determined until the latter half of the nineteenth century. The calculation of its value was based on the results of an experiment to determine the density of the earth performed by Henry Cavendish, and published in 1798.1 The purpose of this experiment is to perform a modern version of the Cavendish experiment, determine the gravitational constant, G, and compare it to its accepted value.