| Previous |  | The challengeEötvös started his work with a minor challenge: he was commissioned to measure the gravitational acceleration on different places. He developed a very sensitive equipment to measure the local changes in gravitational field. Though the Eötvös torsion balance was an upgraded version of the Cavendish-pendulum, it proved to be a milestone in physics. He placed the two masses in different heights. This layout enabled to detect the slight difference in gravitational field, so he managed to prove the equivalence of gravitational and inertial mass with 200 millionth accuracy. This accuracy was outperformed only 82 years later, in 1986. The balance was used as a practical application, too, for decades in prospecting row material. |
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| Historical background | Physics behind the effect | The balance | Experiment in elearning | ||