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Inaccurate constants?

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg32999] Inaccurate constants?
• From: david.bailey at salfordsoftware.co.uk (David Bailey)
• Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2002 02:38:24 -0500 (EST)
• Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

If I execute the following:

<< Miscellaneous`PhysicalConstants`

<< Miscellaneous`Units`

Convert[GravitationalConstant*EarthMass/EarthRadius^2, Meter/Second^2]

I get 9.7997 Meters/Sec^2 - which is a rather inaccurate value for g!

I wonder if the EarthMass value has been calculated from one value of
G and a different value has been used in the package (G is hard to
measure and its accepted value has shifted somewhat).

I got that result while demonstrating Mathematica to a colleague, so
it was a bit embarrassing!

David Bailey