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In the seventeenth century , noted astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei is say to have climbed to the top of the Tower of Pisa and dropped two dissimilar - sized cannonballs . He was trying to demonstrate his theory — which Albert Einstein by and by updated and added to histheory of relativity — that objects fall at the same rate no matter of their size of it .
Now , after expend two years overleap two physical object of dissimilar deal into a destitute fall in a planet , a group of scientists has reason out that Galileo and Einstein were right : The objects fell at a pace that was within two - trillionths of a percent of each other , according to a novel study .
Scientists tested Galileo and Einstein’s theories by dropping two objects inside this satellite named MICROSCOPE (artist’s impression).
This effect has been confirm metre and time again , as has Einstein ’s theory of relativity — yet scientist still are n’t convince that there is n’t some kind of elision somewhere . " scientist have always had a difficult time actually accept that nature should bear that way , " tell senior source Peter Wolf , inquiry theater director at the French National Center for Scientific Research ’s Paris Observatory .
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That ’s because there are still inconsistencies in scientists ' understanding of the universe .
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" Quantum mechanism and oecumenical relativity , which are the two basic theories all of purgative is make on today … are still not unified , " Wolf recount Live Science . What ’s more , although scientific theory say the universe is made up mostly of dark thing anddark energy , experiments have failed to observe these mystic substances .
" So , if we live in a world where there ’s dark topic around that we ca n’t see , that might have an influence on the move of [ object ] , " Wolf said . That influence would be " a very tiny one , " but it would be there even so . So , if scientists see test physical object pass at dissimilar rates , that " might be an denotation that we ’re actually bet at the effect of obscure matter , " he add .
Wolf and an external group of researchers — including scientist from France ’s National Center for Space Studies and theEuropean Space Agency — set out to test Einstein and Galileo ’s foundational theme that no matter where you do an experiment , no matter how you orient it and what speed you ’re moving at through place , the objects will fall at the same rate .
The researcher put two cylindrical target — one made of titanium and the other platinum — inside each other and load them onto a planet . The orbiting satellite was naturally " falling " because there were no force acting on it , Wolf said . They suspended the cylinders within an electromagnetic field and pretermit the objects for 100 to 200 hours at a time .
From the forces the researchers want to use to keep the cylinders in place inside the artificial satellite , the team deduct how the cylinders fell and the rate at which they fell , Wolf said .
And , certain enough , the squad found that the two objects fell at almost exactly the same rate , within two - one-trillionth of a percent of each other . That suggest Galileo was correct . What ’s more , they dropped the objects at different times during the two - year experimentation and got the same result , suggesting Einstein ’s possibility of relativity was also correct .
Their test was an order of magnitude more tender than previous tests . Even so , the researchers have issue only 10 % of the data from the experimentation , and they hope to do further depth psychology of the rest .
Not satisfied with this mind - flabbergast level of precision , scientists have put together several unexampled proposition to do alike experiments with two order of magnitude not bad sensitiveness , Wolf say . Also , some physicist require to conduct similar experiments at the diminutive scale , with individual atoms of unlike types , such as rubidium and K , he add .
The determination were published Dec. 2 in the journalPhysical Review Letters .
Originally publish onLive scientific discipline .
