Zero-length spring gravimeter
Gravímetro de resorte de longitud cero
- Date
- 1932-1934 · confidence high
- Place
- Austin, Texas, United States
- Credited to
- Lucien LaCoste
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
A gravimeter with a 'zero-length' spring, whose force is proportional to its total length, so that a minimal change in gravity produces a large measurable displacement. It measures variations of one part in a hundred million, and became standard in prospecting and geodesy.
LaCoste devised the spring as a student at the University of Texas; he patented the zero-length principle in 1934. The LaCoste & Romberg company (1939) marketed it.
What it led to
- oil and mineral prospecting by gravity anomalies
- marine and airborne gravimeters and gravity maps
- determination of the geoid