Cavendish experiment
E33528
The Cavendish experiment was an 18th-century physics experiment by Henry Cavendish that measured the tiny gravitational attraction between lead spheres, allowing the first calculation of the gravitational constant and the mass of the Earth.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Cavendish experiment canonical | 2 |
| Cavendish experiment on the density of the Earth | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T244472 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Cavendish experiment Context triple: [law of universal gravitation, relatedTo, Cavendish experiment]
-
A.
Trouton–Noble experiment
The Trouton–Noble experiment was an early 20th-century test of the luminiferous aether that searched for a torque on a charged capacitor in motion and, by finding no such effect, provided support for the emerging theory of special relativity.
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B.
Michelson–Morley experiment
The Michelson–Morley experiment was a landmark 1887 physics experiment that attempted to detect the Earth's motion through the hypothesized luminiferous aether and whose null result helped pave the way for Einstein's theory of special relativity.
-
C.
Ives–Stilwell experiment
The Ives–Stilwell experiment is a classic test of special relativity that measured the relativistic Doppler effect to confirm time dilation for fast-moving ions.
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D.
Kennedy–Thorndike experiment
The Kennedy–Thorndike experiment is a classic test of special relativity that examined the constancy of the speed of light using an interferometer with unequal arm lengths and varying laboratory velocity.
-
E.
Cavendish
Cavendish is the married surname of Kathleen Kennedy, a member of the prominent Kennedy family who became Marchioness of Hartington.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Cavendish experiment Target entity description: The Cavendish experiment was an 18th-century physics experiment by Henry Cavendish that measured the tiny gravitational attraction between lead spheres, allowing the first calculation of the gravitational constant and the mass of the Earth.
-
A.
Trouton–Noble experiment
The Trouton–Noble experiment was an early 20th-century test of the luminiferous aether that searched for a torque on a charged capacitor in motion and, by finding no such effect, provided support for the emerging theory of special relativity.
-
B.
Michelson–Morley experiment
The Michelson–Morley experiment was a landmark 1887 physics experiment that attempted to detect the Earth's motion through the hypothesized luminiferous aether and whose null result helped pave the way for Einstein's theory of special relativity.
-
C.
Ives–Stilwell experiment
The Ives–Stilwell experiment is a classic test of special relativity that measured the relativistic Doppler effect to confirm time dilation for fast-moving ions.
-
D.
Kennedy–Thorndike experiment
The Kennedy–Thorndike experiment is a classic test of special relativity that examined the constancy of the speed of light using an interferometer with unequal arm lengths and varying laboratory velocity.
-
E.
Cavendish
Cavendish is the married surname of Kathleen Kennedy, a member of the prominent Kennedy family who became Marchioness of Hartington.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
gravitational experiment
ⓘ
historical scientific experiment ⓘ physics experiment ⓘ |
| aimedTo | determine the density of the Earth ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs | weighing the Earth ⓘ |
| approximateValueFound |
Earth's mean density about 5.4 times that of water
ⓘ
gravitational constant close to modern accepted value ⓘ |
| assumes | inverse-square law of gravitation ⓘ |
| basedOn |
law of universal gravitation
ⓘ
surface form:
Newton's law of universal gravitation
|
| category |
experiments in classical mechanics
ⓘ
experiments in gravitation ⓘ |
| conductedBy | Henry Cavendish ⓘ |
| enabled |
calculation of the mass of the Earth
ⓘ
first calculation of the gravitational constant G ⓘ |
| field |
gravitational physics
ⓘ
physics ⓘ |
| hasParticipant |
large fixed lead spheres
ⓘ
small movable lead spheres ⓘ |
| hasQuantity |
density of the Earth
ⓘ
gravitational constant ⓘ |
| historicalSignificance |
confirmed Newtonian gravitation at laboratory scale
ⓘ
provided first reasonably accurate value for Earth's mass ⓘ |
| influenced |
later measurements of gravitational constant
ⓘ
precision experimental gravitation ⓘ |
| location | Cavendish's estate in Clapham, London ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
gravitational constant
ⓘ
mass of the Earth ⓘ universal gravitation ⓘ |
| measures |
gravitational attraction between masses
ⓘ
tiny gravitational force ⓘ |
| method |
balancing gravitational torque with torsional restoring torque
ⓘ
measuring torsion angle of a suspended rod ⓘ |
| notableFor |
first laboratory measurement of gravitational force between masses
ⓘ
high precision for its time ⓘ |
| performedIn | late 18th century ⓘ |
| performedInYear |
1797
ⓘ
1798 ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1798 ⓘ |
| publishedIn | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Newtonian mechanics
ⓘ
precision measurement ⓘ torsion pendulum ⓘ |
| result |
experimental value for the mean density of the Earth
ⓘ
indirect determination of gravitational constant ⓘ |
| uses |
horizontal rod
ⓘ
lead spheres ⓘ torsion balance ⓘ torsion wire ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Cavendish experiment Description of subject: The Cavendish experiment was an 18th-century physics experiment by Henry Cavendish that measured the tiny gravitational attraction between lead spheres, allowing the first calculation of the gravitational constant and the mass of the Earth.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Cavendish experiment on the density of the Earth