This is a terrible article in both content and form. Pretty much the only interesting thing in it is the historical connection between the seconds pendulum and the metre, but then you could just read this instead: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metre" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metre</a>
For anyone hoping for some deeper fundamental connection, you should read about natural units[1] to understand why that couldn't happen.<p>Given a dimensional constant, it can only be related to some more fundamental mathematical constant in a particular set of units. So the connection will be entirely due to how the units are defined, as is the case here.<p>1. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_units" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_units</a>
Wouldn't this relationship only exist on earth (to be exact on surface of earth)? Unless we redefine 1 meter of length depending on gravitational field on every surface of planet/star...
>Does it look like the local gravitational field on the surface of the Earth, g? Well, no – it doesn’t because it doesn’t have any units.<p>Well, no - because it's a different number. Given that, the rest of the article just seems rather odd.
<i>In 1668, Wilkins proposed using Christopher Wren's suggestion of a pendulum with a half-period of one second to measure a standard length that Christiaan Huygens had observed to be 38 Rijnland inches or 39 1⁄4 English inches (997 mm) in length.[3] In the 18th century, there were two favoured approaches to the definition of the standard unit of length. One approach followed Wilkins in defining the metre as the length of a pendulum with a half-period of one second, a 'seconds pendulum'.</i><p><i>In 1791, the French Academy of Sciences selected the meridional definition over the pendular definition because the force of gravity varies slightly over the surface of the Earth, which affects the period of a pendulum.</i><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre#Meridional_definition" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre#Meridional_definition</a>
This is what i was hoping to read in this article:<p>If pi is defined as the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, then a gravitational field indeed changes pi, and by measuring this change, its possible to measure the strength of gravity.<p>A quick way to understand this is to realize that "straight lines" (geodesics) are defined as the path taken by a beam of light, and gravity causes the path of light to bend. Measuring the difference is the same as measuring the curvature of space time, which when multiplied by a constant IS the strength of the gravitational field according to general relativity.<p>Another way to see it: take a sphere and draw a circle on it, then measure pi. You can determine the curvature of the sphere once you measure the difference with pi on a flat piece of paper.
Was hoping to see some relation with the big G, but the author instead used small g, which depends on all kinds of things and cannot be treated as a constant.