Is Einstein wrong?A satellite verification of the famous Pizza Tower experiment ...

Text ｜ Xu Rui

As the pillar of Einstein's general theory of relativity and the main content of the demonstration of middle school science courses, the principle of weak equal effects has passed the strictest test so far.

A new heavenly experiment carried out by the European "microscope" satellites, unprecedented accuracy, confirmed that objects composed of different materials, under the action of gravity, fall at a completely the same speed.

"It is really good to confirm Einstein theory with such a high accuracy." Eugene Lim Lim, the theoretical physicist of King London, England, said that the results of this study are not surprising, but these experiments can be in the future. Help physicists reduce the scope of gravitational theory that conforms to quantum theory, and better predict black holes.

Simply put, the principle of weak equal effects indicates that gravity is common, that is, no matter what the object is, in the gravitational field, it will accelerate in the same way.

"Microscope" satellite. Image source: CNES 2015

For centuries, physicists have never stopped experimental exploration of the above principles.

Among them, the most famous demonstration (probably fiction) was a free falling experiment conducted by astronomer Galileo in the Bisa diagonal tower in Italy. It is said that he settled two different quality spheres at the top of the tower and saw that they landed at the same time.

Today, the forefront of the principle of weak equivalent is in space. The main task of the "microscope" satellite launched in 2016 is to verify the principle of weak equal effects of Einstein.

The "microscope" running around the earth is placed in the interior of a series of charged cylinders made of platinum and titanium alloy, which are maintained in situ by static electricity.

The operation of the satellite orbit is equivalent to the whereabouts. At least in terms of gravity, the internal cylindrical body is basically kept in a constant free fall state.

At the same time, an extremely sensitive electronic sensor measures the voltage required for each cylinder relatively static.

If one cylindrical body accelerates faster than the other cylindrical body, it will maintain a higher voltage in situ.

Research published in the "Physics Review Express" on September 14 pointed out that the results were as expected -the acceleration of the two cylinders was always the same during the entire experiment.

Manuel Rodrigues, a research engineer of the French Institute of Aeronautics and Aerospace Research (Onera) and the above -mentioned task leader, pointed out that the research results will not rewrite any textbooks, but it has "increased by 10 times the measurement accuracy" than previous experiments.

"The accuracy of new research has added confidence to various studies in the past. We now know that the results obtained from other experiments are reliable." Lim added.

Related thesis information:

https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.129.1211

"China Science News" (2022-09-16 The 2nd edition of the original title "Feather and bowling is indeed falling at the same speed")

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Edit | Zhao Lu

Capture | Guo Gang

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