The attraction of the pyramids: virtual realization of Hutton's suggestion to improve Maskelyne's 1774 Earth density estimate
Charles Hutton suggested in 1821 that the pyramids of Egypt be used to site an experiment to measure the deflection of the vertical by a large mass. The suggestion arose as he had estimated the attraction of a Scottish mountain as part of Nevil Maskelyne's (1774) "Schiehallion Experimen...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Copernicus Publications
2018-01-01
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| Series: | History of Geo- and Space Sciences |
| Online Access: | https://www.hist-geo-space-sci.net/9/1/2018/hgss-9-1-2018.pdf |
| Summary: | Charles Hutton suggested in 1821 that the pyramids of Egypt be used to site
an experiment to measure the deflection of the vertical by a large mass. The
suggestion arose as he had estimated the attraction of a Scottish mountain as
part of Nevil Maskelyne's (1774) "Schiehallion Experiment", a demonstration
of Isaac Newton's law of gravitational attraction and the earliest reasonable
quantitative estimate of Earth's mean density. I present a virtual
realization of an experiment at the Giza pyramids to investigate how Hutton's
concept might have emerged had it been undertaken as he suggested. The
attraction of the Great Pyramid would have led to inward north–south
deflections of the vertical totalling 1.8 arcsec (0.0005°), and
east–west deflections totalling 2.0 arcsec (0.0006°), which
although small, would have been within the contemporaneous detectable range,
and potentially given, as Hutton wished, a more accurate Earth density
measurement than he reported from the Schiehallion experiment. |
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| ISSN: | 2190-5010 2190-5029 |