News Physics

A teeny device can measure subtle shifts in Earth’s gravitational field

The instrument is among the smallest and cheapest gravimeters ever built

A tiny and portable gravimeter can sense changes in the Earth's gravitational field

Roughly the size of two smartphones stacked together, this novel gravimeter is one of the smallest such instruments ever created. Researchers hope to shrink the device further and place it on drones for fieldwork.

Han Xie

By Adam Mann

There’s a new entrant in the competition to develop ever-tinier instruments that can detect changes in our planet’s gravitational field — a tabletop device roughly the size of two smartphone stacked together.