NIST Adjusts the Values of the Physical Constants, Tweaking Gravity to Make Science More Precise
The Precisely Milled International Prototype Kilogram Don't you go a'changin'. GregL via Wikimedia Did you feel that? Gravity just got a little weaker. The National Institute of Standards and Technology and has just posted the latest adjustments to its internationally recommended values for the fundamental constants of nature. The results: Gravity is a bit weaker, the electromagnetic force a smidgeon stronger, and the whole of physics a little less uncertain. The NIST reconsiders the values it places upon the fundamental constants every four years to take into account advances in technology and science that beget better, more accurate values for things like the speed of light, the Newtonian constant of gravitation (G), the Planck constant, and other values preceded by famous names. The real news here isn't really that we've discovered anything new but that science on the whole has reduced uncertainty, and that in turn impacts all physical science going forward....