The First Nuclear Clock Will Test if Fundamental Constants Change | Quanta Magazine
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An ultra-precise measurement of a transition in the hearts of thorium atoms gives physicists a tool to probe the forces that bind the universe.

An ultra-precise measurement of a transition in the hearts of thorium atoms gives physicists a tool to probe the forces that bind the universe.

  • BilliamEnglish
    6•14 days ago

    It wouldn’t be the first time we discovered that some previously constant forces are actually variable (much the way the force of gravity is affected by distance, noticeable only when you lob something high enough.)

    More specifically to your example, we discovered that gravity isn’t a force at all- it’s a literal curvature of space-time caused by objects with mass, which is why its effects aren’t constant.

    • Uriel238 [all pronouns]English
      1•14 days ago

      Yes, but that model is late in the gravity game. We were toying with the two bodies experiment before heliocentrism, let alone higher-dimension curvature of space.