News Quantum Physics

Galileo’s famous gravity experiment holds up, even with individual atoms

Different types of atoms fall with the same acceleration due to gravity

Atoms

Individual atoms fall at the same rate due to gravity, scientists report, reaffirming a concept called the equivalence principle.

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By Emily Conover

According to legend, Galileo dropped weights off of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, showing that gravity causes objects of different masses to fall with the same acceleration. In recent years, researchers have taken to replicating this test in a way that the Italian scientist probably never envisioned — by dropping atoms.