Current Event Essay - SCIN 111 - Revision PDF

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The professor assigned an essay about a current event, my current event I choose was about an experiment that was recreated on a satellite about gravity. ...

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Running Head: ARTICLE CRITIQUE

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Article Critique: Major Gravity Experiment Recreated Aboard A Satellite Skyler Stackhouse SCIN 111 Word Count: 999 9/28/18

Article Critique: Major Gravity Experiment Recreated Aboard A Satellite

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On January 16th, 2018 an article was written by Emily Conover over the phenomenon of gravity and falling masses. Ms. Conover has written a number of articles mostly over physics and astronomy. An experiment was conducted in which a satellite was taken into space where two hollow cylinders were released into Earth’s orbit. This would provide that they continue into a free fall. This experiment was testing Galileo’s original test where he supposedly dropped two balls from the Leaning Tower of Pisa. He was trying to prove that if the balls were dropped at the same time, even though they were different weights, they would have the same acceleration. The scientific experiment conducted was similar to Galileo's. Scientists sent a satellite, known as MICROSCOPE, which was launched in April of 2016 into Earth’s orbit. This satellite contained two hollow cylinders. One was made from platinum alloy and the other made from titanium alloy. They are both dissiliar in the case of their masses and weights. According to Galileo, although the cylinders are different masses they should fall at the same rate of acceleration. This test’s aim was to get validity at the 10^−15 precision level, this is ten times more precise than previous experiments. This article displayed strengthening qualities such as being readable and reliable. Ms. Conover, the author, sourced a few physicists and a MICROSCOPE researcher throughout the text. The subject of the experiment, gravity and free fall, affects Earth as a whole through proving Galileo and Einstein correct and Aristotle wrong. Aristotle originally thought the more weight an object has the faster it will fall. This was incorrect as the real reason an object may fall faster than another is not because of weight but because of air resistance. If Earth did not have air resistance then a feather would drop at the same rate, or acceleration, a brick would. Earth with no air resistance would send objects, in free fall, to the ground a lot faster than they usually would. For example if it were to rain outside, instead of getting that familiar, gentle,

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soothing drop on your face. You would feel pain and have to run for cover. Rain would feel like bullets falling from the sky. This current experiment tested Galileo’s original experiment and, thankfully, proved him to be correct. Without air resistance, we would all have to seek shelter when we see a storm cloud. This also relates to the everyday life of an ordinary individual. Not to mention everyone’s lives would be affected if rain came down similar to hail, but in another case of the activity skydiving. Skydivers use a tool when they jump out of a plane called a parachute. This tool is used to decrease the skydiver’s acceleration dramatically so they can make a safe landing and be able to return to their family. The parachute works similarly to a feather falling. A feather, as we know, falls slower than a brick, but only because of air resistance. A parachute needs the air resistance Earth provides to be able to work. Without it, skydiving would have never become the fun activity it is today. Instead it would be a frightening suicidal freefall. This experiment relates to my life in the case of, I will soon be participating in the fun activity of skydiving. I am thankful for the air resistance which will be used to slow my descent. Furthermore, I have had family members skydive if air resistance ceased they would not be with us today. Also with a trained professional strapped on my back I find solace in knowing I will not fall at an increased rate due to the extra weight, same with my mom who will be joining me. If the weak equivalence principle were incorrect then my mom would fall faster than me, because she weighs more plus the professional strapped to her back. This could result in a fatal injury as to the parachute not opening correctly or in time because her acceleration would be faster than normal. While this article did show a lot of good qualities it fell short in some areas that might have made it stronger. For example, the article was very short and to-the-point. If Ms. Conover

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had more details on the experiment or wrote about how this experiment affects our daily lives and why it is so important it would have made a much stronger article. Instead she goes onto talk about the surface details and some background information about the experiment, while this is important and what a good author brings into their articles. I felt she could have gone in depth with how the experiment relates to our lives, just to give the reader a better understanding about what she is talking about. Ms. Conover presents this experiment as well constructed and sound science. She gave the scientists idea for the experiment and what the original test was, Galileo dropping the ball. Presented facts into the article about how accurate the experiment actually is and giving the specific details of the cylinders, she even included the material they were made of and the weight difference. Furthermore; the conclusion of the experiment was stated with facts and even included why they conducted the experiment in terms of science and how it relates to other theories. In conclusion the article was very interesting and written by a great author. She wrote the article in a way that someone who knows little about physics would be able to understand and grasp the main objective of the experiment. The experiment re-affirmed Galileo’s original experiment and proved Einstein right once again. The MICROSCOPE satellite was ten times more precise than previous tests done over this same concept. Also once more, without air resistance and the weak equivalence principle rain would turn into bullets of water cascading from the sky, and skydiving instead of being the usual fun activity a lot of people enjoy participating in, would become a suicide mission.

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References Conover, E. (2018). Major Gravity Experiment Recreated Aboard a Satellite. Physical Review Letters,119. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.231101. Touboul, P., Métris, G., Rodrigues, M., André, Y., Baghi, Q., Bergé, J., . . . Visser, P. (2017). MICROSCOPE Mission: First Results of a Space Test of the Equivalence Principle. Physical Review Letters,119(23). doi:10.1103/physrevlett.119.231101...