Novel Tests of Gravity Below 50 Microns

Presentation Year

2026

College or Department

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

Short Description of your Research or Creative Project (700 characters or less)

he development of a unified theory encompassing the Standard Model and General Relativity often necessitates theorizing features that violate the Weak Equivalence Principle (WEP) and/or the gravitational Inverse-Square Law (ISL). Such a violation would indicate our current understanding of gravity is incomplete. Undergraduate researchers and faculty members at Cal Poly Humboldt are performing an experiment to measure gravitational influence at ranges less than 50 microns in an attempt to identify any deviations and explore the significance such a discovery would have. Using a compositional-dipole torsion pendulum and an oscillating attractor mass, torque is created on the pendulum to study its response to the gravitational field of the attractor mass.

Permission to Publish Work

Yes

Presentation File Upload

physics-astronomy-botts-rowan-203457-4x3.pdf (1.22 MB)

Primary Contact: First Name

Rowan

Primary Contact: Last Name

Botts

Primary Contact: Email

erb96@humbolddt.edu

Primary Contact: I am a

Undergraduate Student

Primary Contact: Phone Number

7073362235

Indicate File Dimensions

4'x3'