Sir Isaac Newton, Henry Cavendish, Galileo Galilei and Eratosthenes contributed to the

calculation of earth's mass.

The mass of the earth was calculated by usin the Newton's !aw of Gravity which states
that the ravitational force between two ob"ects is directly #ro#ortional to the #roduct of
their masses of these ob"ects and is inversely #ro#ortional to the s$uare of distance
between the two ob"ects.
%athematically& ' ( Gm%)r
*
+here ' is ravitational force, G is #ro#ortionalty canstant, m and % are masses of the
ob"ects and r is distance between them.
This law can be used for the ravitational force between the earth and the ob"ect near its
surface. Then the mass of the earth can be calculated by usin the formula& %( 'r
*
) Gm
where % is the mass of the earth, ' is ravitational force, r is radius of the earth and G is
ravitational constant.
The circuference of earth was calculated by a Gree, mathematician Eratosthenes
thousands of years ao. Eratosthenes ,new that on the summer solstice at local noon sun
a##ears directly overhead on the Tro#ic of Cancer. He calculated his local noon -half.way
between sunrise and sunset/ in 0le1andria. He erected a vertical stic, and measured the
lenth of its shadow. 0fter this he obtained the anle of elevation of sun. Then he
calculated the 2enith anle by subtractin the anle of elevation of sun from 345. He
calculated the earth circumference usin the formula&
0nle of the sun ) 6745 ( 8istance to Tro#ic of Cancer ) Earth circumference
When the circumference is known, radius can be calculated. So Eratosthenes was the first
person to measure the radius of the earth.
The value of -acceleration due to ravity/ was measured by Galileo and it is used for
the calculation of earth's mass. 0ristotle's conce#t of #hysics was that the lihter ob"ects
fall slowly while the heavier ob"ects fall faster, later Galileo discovered that acceleration
towards the earth due to ravity is constant for all ob"ects. He dro##ed the heavier and
lihter ob"ect from the same heiht at the same time and noticed that all bodies accelerate
towards the earth in the same way.
Newton's law of Gravitational force& '(G%m)r
*
Newton's second law of motion& '( m
m ( G%m)r
*
or ( G%)r
*
where is ravity, G is ravitational constant, % is mass of
earth and r is distance of fallin ob"ect from earth. 0cceleraton due to ravity -/ does not
de#end on the mass of fallin ob"ect m. 0ll ob"ects fall at the same rate.
Gallileo showed downward motion of a ball due to ravity and calculated the value of .
Galileo could not measure the vertical fall because it was too fast. Instead he measured
the acceleration by rollin balls down an inclined board. He measure the distance covered
by the balls and measured the times in clic,s.
Galileo could not measured the e1act value of acceleration of ravity because &
9& he measured by rollin balls down the inclined #lanes -anle of inclined board
affected the acceleration of balls/
*& the ball was rollin -he could not measure motion of fallin balls directly to the earth
due to ravity/
So he could not measured the riht value of but he had a riht idea. The actual value of
is 3.: m)s
*

In 9;3: Henry Cavendish was the first #erson to measure the mass of earth and for this
#ur#ose he calculated the value of constant G -ravitational constant/ because the value
of and the radius of earth had already been discovered. 0fter discoverin the value of G
he #utted the values in the formula of Newton's !aw of Gravitation and discovered the
mass of the earth. The Cavendish's a##aratus consist of two wooden rods with the lead
s#heres attached to each end -two small balls and two larer balls/. The rod with the
small balls was sus#ended from a wire and was free to rotate. 0 mirror was attached to
the wire. The two lare balls were #laced near the small balls. The attraction between the
lare balls and small balls caused the wooden rod to rotate, twistin the wire throuh a
small anle. Henry Cavenih measured the amount of twist by the #osition of reflected
liht s#ot from the mirror. He measured the force ' between the balls by measurin the
oscillation #eriod of wire.
He measured the value of G usin the formula& ' ( G%m)r
*
where % is mass of lare
ball, m is mass of small ball and r is distance between balls.
Calculations
'(G%m)r
*
where ' is ravitational force, G is ravitational constant, % is mass of earth,
m is mass of another ob"ect near the surface of earth, r is the radius of the earth.
0ccordin to Newton's second law of motion '(ma where a ( -acceleration due to
ravity/
m ( G%m)r
*
or ( G%)r
*
-mass of ob"ect m is canceled out/
% ( ar
*
) G -value of is 3.:m)s
*
, G( 7.7;<94
.99
m
6
),.s
*
/
% ( 7.4<94
*=
,