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Gravimeters

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

  • 53 Accesses

Synonyms

Gravity meters; Relative

Definition

An instrument which measures differences in gravity. Units: Practical units are mGal (10 −6 g) and μGal (10 −9 g). 1 Gal = 1 cm/s 2.

Introduction

The first relative gravity measurements were made in 1672 by the French astronomer, Richer, who noted a difference in the period of a pendulum when observed in Paris and close to the equator in Cayenne, South America. For the next two centuries, relative gravity measurements, mainly for scientific purposes, were made with pendulums. In 1893, Threlfall and Pollock made the first successful spring-mass gravimeter in Sydney, Australia (Threlfall and Pollock 1900) using the newly discovered quartz fibers. From the middle of the twentieth century up until the present nearly all relative gravity measurements have been made with instruments based on a mass suspended by a quartz or metal elastic system. Instruments in which the mass is levitated in the field of a superconducting magnet and instruments...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Scintrex Ltd, Concord, ON, Canada

    Andrew Hugill

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  1. Andrew Hugill
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Correspondence to Andrew Hugill .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Seismology, National Geophysical Research Insti, Hyderabad, India

    Harsh K. Gupta

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Hugill, A. (2019). Gravimeters. In: Gupta, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10475-7_87-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10475-7_87-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-10475-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-10475-7

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