Henry Cavendish

Henry Cavendish (October 10, 1731 - February 24, 1810) was a British scientist.

Weighing the Earth

Cavendish is also credited with one of the earliest accurate calculations of the mass of the earth. He used a torsion balance to measure the gravitational attraction between lead spheres in 1798, from which he calculated Newton's gravitational constant, G, which he used to calculate the earth's mass. His results remained the accepted standard until the 20th century. The current best estimate for the Earth's mass is 5.9725 billion trillion tonnes, a difference of only about 1 per cent from Cavendish's finding.

Related Topics:
Torsion balance - Gravitational - 1798 - Gravitational constant - 20th century

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