Molybdenum Disc Experiment

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The molybdenum disk experiment (also known as the Eöt-Wash experiment ) is an Eötvös experiment to measure the gravitational force at small distances. It should be used to investigate possible deviations from Newton's law of gravity , which can be caused, for example, by additional dimensions , such as those required in string theory .

With the molybdenum disk experiment, Eric Adelberger and colleagues from the University of Washington in Seattle showed that Newton's law of gravity is valid at distances between 10 mm and 56  micrometers . From this one can conclude that the largest of the dimensions rolled up in string theory must be smaller than 44 micrometers.

In the experimental setup , two molybdenum disks were attached parallel to each other with an initial distance of 10 millimeters. The upper disk was held by a thin thread while the lower disk rotated around its center. The self-gravity of the two disks to each other was too small to be technically determined. After drilling 42 equidistant and congruent holes in both plates, the behavior of the structure changed: the rotation of the lower plate caused the upper plate to vibrate slightly. This effect is due to the brief higher gravity during the overlap of the massive areas on the two disks. The distance between the two plates was now gradually reduced to 55 micrometers without any deviation from Newton's law of gravity being observed.

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  1. ^ DJ Kapner et al .: Tests of the Gravitational Inverse-Square Law below the Dark-Energy Length Scale . In: Physical Review Letters . tape 98 , January 8, 2007, doi : 10.1103 / PhysRevLett.98.021101 , arxiv : hep-ph / 0611184 .

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