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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 98 » Issue 15
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 150801 (2007) [3 pages]

Laboratory Test of Newton’s Second Law for Small Accelerations

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J. H. Gundlach, S. Schlamminger, C. D. Spitzer, and K.-Y. Choi
Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA

B. A. Woodahl
Physics Department, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, USA

J. J. Coy
Earth and Space Science Department, Saint Joseph’s College, Rensselaer, Indiana 47978, USA

E. Fischbach
Physics Department, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA

Received 12 February 2007; published 13 April 2007

We have tested the proportionality of force and acceleration in Newton’s second law, F=ma, in the limit of small forces and accelerations. Our tests reach well below the acceleration scales relevant to understanding several current astrophysical puzzles such as the flatness of galactic rotation curves, the Pioneer anomaly, and the Hubble acceleration. We find good agreement with Newton’s second law at accelerations as small as 5×10-14  m/s2.

© 2007 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.150801
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.150801
PACS:
06.30.Gv, 04.80.Cc
 
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