I remember measuring g (standard gravitational acceleration) in the pantry at my parents' house when I was in high-school.<p>It involved a pretty hefty dumbbell, a long string and a watch. Basically, it was the pendulum method - you need to time several oscillations, then measure the length of the pendulum and the formula gives you g.<p>The pendulum was about 2 m long (6 ft) I guess, the dumbbell was maybe around 10 kg (20 lb) or so, and I managed to time perhaps 5 minutes worth of oscillations - being pretty heavy, it continued to sway back and forth for a long time without stopping.<p>I had to debate with myself the actual length of the pendulum, because I couldn't know for sure where the center of gravity of the whole thing was. In the end, I just postulated it was exactly on the axis of the dumbbell - probably pretty close to reality.<p>I think I got something like 9.7 m/s2 IIRC, which is pretty close to the average of 9.8 (which also depends on the latitude, altitude and a number of other factors).<p>Physics is fun.