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Re: [Phys-l] New gravitational constant



Hi again,

I wrote that the old value was:

(6.67259 +/- 0.001) * 10^(-11) m^3kg^(-1)s^(-2)

Todd noticed that:

"My complaint about reporting a number like what was
quoted above, 6.67259 +/- 0.001 still stands, and was based
not on "what I was taught in high school", but on years of
reporting results of precision measurements made by me and
colleagues."

and John pointed out that:

"Where did that come from? That looks sorta like the 1986
CODATA value, except that the uncertainty is misstated."

Of course, it was *my mistake* (not CODATA's) of taking the misstated uncertainty blindly from the Finnish version of Wikipedia. Interestingly, I believe that I would have spotted it in my students' lab reports. But I didn't spot it when I took it from a source I this time naively trusted (this is not to say that I always trust Wikipedia). So it is taught even in high school that you are not supposed to report a number like that :-). I'm sorry for the mistake.

Thanks for your insights! Being a member of Phys-L makes teaching physics even more fun.


Regards,

Antti Savinainen
Kuopion Lyseon lukio
Finland


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