Laboratory test of Newton's second law for small accelerations

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysical review letters Vol. 98; no. 15; p. 150801
Main Authors Gundlach, J H, Schlamminger, S, Spitzer, C D, Choi, K-Y, Woodahl, B A, Coy, J J, Fischbach, E
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 13.04.2007
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Summary: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 x 10(-14) m/s(2).
ISSN:0031-9007
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.150801