Schiehallion
| Schiehallion | ||
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 over the River Tay seen |
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| height | 1083 m | |
| location | Perth and Kinross , Scotland | |
| Coordinates | 56 ° 40 '4 " N , 4 ° 5' 52" W | |
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Schiehallion or Shehellien ( Gaelic : Sìdh Chailleann, pronounced IPA : [ ʃiˈxaʎən̪ˠ ]) is a mountain in the Scottish Council Area of Perth and Kinross . The Gaelic name means fairy mountain of the Caledonians . It is very popular among hikers because of its easy ascent and spectacular views. In 2000, it was estimated that between 17,500 and 20,000 hikers climb the mountain annually. The east side of the mountain has been owned by the John Muir Trust since 1999 .
The Schiehallion experiment
The isolated position of the Schiehallion and its regular shape led Charles Mason to choose the mountain in 1774 in order to estimate the earth's mass for the first time through an experiment. Two measuring points were selected on different sides of the mountain range. The deflection their Lotrichtungen by the mass of the mountain was an approximate measure of Newton's gravitational constant G deliver. From this constant it was possible to infer the average density and mass of the earth. The angle known today as deviation from the perpendicular was determined by measuring the two elevation angles of a star and comparing it with the distance between the two points.
The experiment itself was not carried out by Charles Mason , who merely selected the mountain, but by the British court astronomer at the time, Nevil Maskelyne, in collaboration with the mathematician Charles Hutton , who also invented the contour lines during the measurements.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ East Shiehallion. John Muir Trust, accessed December 27, 2014 .
- ↑ information about the pathwork. John Muir Trust, accessed March 11, 2009 .
- ↑ Edwin Danson: Weighing the World . Oxford University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-19-518169-7 , pp. 116 .