The Cavendish Experiment

What did Henry Cavendish actually measure and why does Sleeping Warrior misrepresent it?

One comment in addition to what is contained in this video. At the time, Newton's equation didn't appear in its modern form. The term big "G" appeared later and it's value wasn't derived from the work Cavendish did until nearly 100 years later. One additional clarification. In order to measure deflection of the torsion beam, Cavendish arranged scales marked such that he could read deflections as little as 1/100th of an inch.

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[earthrise]

Besides myself, you are the first person to actually set forth the findings! I have been screaming at everybody since Liely started trying to push this 1/50, 000, 000th BULL****! I am surprised nobody else has read the paper, and pushed back on it. I didn't actually know the answer until I read the thing. I really need to try to get some content out :)

[markedwards]

Thanks that was the first time someone has explained cavendish so well and clear
Love your videos keep them coming

[GeoffInfield]

Way beyond his ability to comprehend, even if he was willing to try, but a fascinating and well presented video for anyone interested in facts - thanks! You too Gladys :)

[delirium]

Riley can’t resolve the angles of an equilateral triangle. He never had a chance with this.

[erikhoppe]

Thank You BMS! Cool, calm and collected, as usual.


Please: Stay in school, kids. Please!

[stuckinflorida]

The comatose warrior misrepresents the Cavendish experiment because he has to in order to keep his scam going. Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work.

[FlatEarthMath]

Excellent, excellent, excellent. So many misconceptions by both Globe Earth folks and others, all cleared up. One tiny correction. At 9:48 you say that Newton gave us the gravitational formula (the one with big G). This is incorrect. This formula wasn't even written when Cavendish did his experiment, which is why it is incorrect for others (not you) to say that "he found big G." You explained and demonstrated this very well. No, his experimental data allows us to find big G, but he didn't do it. The modern gravitational formula didn't come along until 100 years after Cavendish, with C.V. Boys, who replicated Cavendish's experiment using a torsion wire made of fused quartz. It is amazing what these great scientists did, without free WiFi. :-)

[handstandish]

Excellent. What a remarkable achievement, The Cavendish Experiment.

[woodyuk]

"To determine the density of the Earth". Next, we need to develop an experiment to determine the density of Dozy Combatant. I posit that the result will be somewhere between 'considerable' and 'Oh, dear lord'.

[bartonpaullevenson]

The actual density of the Earth is (by my calculations) 5, 513.8 kg per cubic meter, so Cavendish's figure differs from that by 0.61%. Pretty darn close!

[ninagadsdon]

Thank you for yet again making a complicated concept simple to understand.

[johncnorris]

Anthony's comments are about as random as the rhetoric from a political strategist. He knows his argument and what to avoid saying so he doesn't screw it up. He doesn't think he's a liar because he considers avoiding the truth to be part of his childish game.

[nikiwiki]

It’s a pity the Gravitational Constant isn’t 6.66.

[Sparky-vjdq]

Superb presentation. Probably the clearest explanation of Cavendish I've seen. I'm also glad to say my weight is a lot less than 100kg or 981N!

[bobsenior]

Thanks for this great video blue, now I'll have to learn about this. I love science.

[johnnyragadoo]

What a delightful existence this is. I can seize the entirety of the Earth with pencil and paper. No need to give me a long enough lever with which to move the world, I can calculate one for myself.

How bleak it would be otherwise.

A quick question, though. If Sleeping Warrior inherited his views from his progenitors, wouldn't that be strong evidence for his theories of dense relatives?

[frankdebrouwer-leiden]

Some people, flerfers and baller alike think that Cavendish had to know big G in order to find the mass of the earth. Brian Mullin even has suggested that Cavendish just guessed the mass of the earth in order to find big G. All of this isn't true. Cavendish could calculate the mass of the earth without knowing big G in this manner:
Suppose the weight of a lead ball equals: W = (G * M1 * m2) / (R^2) W is the weight of the ball, M1 is the mass of the earth and R is the radius of the earth.
The attraction between 2 lead balls of equal size would be: F = (G * m2 * m2)/ (r^2) r being the distance between the centers of the balls.
Then W / F = ((G * M1 * m2) / (R^2)) / (G * m2 * m2)/ (r^2)
Cleaning things up, you will see that big G cancels out and you get: W / F = (M1/R^2) / (m2/r^2).
Since we know R and we know r and we know the weight of the lead ball and since the attractive force between the lead balls is found in the experiment, you can calculate the mass of the earth. No big G needed.
In reality, Cavendish made use of lead balls of different masses, which makes the math a little bit more complicated, but the principle is the same.
Big G was calculated much later.

[Kualinar]

It's commendable that someone overestimate the error margin of his experiment by a factor on slightly more than 7.
It show rigour and discipline.

[Fudmottin]

I have a copy of Cavendish's paper as liberated from JSTOR. I've read it a number of times. I honestly don't see how Sleeping Warrior can screw it up. Sure, the English is a tad archaic. But it is still quite readable. I doubt any flat earther has read the paper straight through in its entirety, including and especially Sleeping Warrior. I have my doubts about Quantum Eraser too. He's been spouting off about the Reverend as if that was some kind of hidden information rather than outright stated by Cavendish in the introduction to his paper! Everything is in there for anyone to read. Some people may have trouble with some of the math. That's fine. Not everyone has gone beyond Algebra 1. That would of course make any criticism that much more disingenuous. Anyway, I am constantly impressed by the level of detail and thought that went into the performance of the experiments (yes plural) as Cavendish was also testing the apparatus itself and the changes he made to the original experiment. That's a lot of dedication even for a normal person. Cavendish had a severe social anxiety disorder that made things even more difficult for him. So I have severe antipathy towards people who trash that work.

[JeffSpijkers]

Very good and VERY informative video! Really like the way you explain things! Thanks!