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The Cavendish experiment can be demonstrated using an apparatus consisting of two pairs of spheres, each pair forming dumbbells that share a common swivel axis. One dumbbell is suspended from a quartz fiber and is free to rotate by twisting the fiber. The amount of twist is measured by the position of a reflected light spot from a mirror attached to the fiber. The second dumbbell can be swiveled so that its spheres are positioned near the spheres of the first dumbbell. The gravitational attraction between the two sets of spheres causes the fiber to twist due to the minute force exerted between the masses. By measuring the degree of this twist, the gravitational force between the masses can be calculated.
