Frequently I found disparate values for the mass of the Earth. For instance, 5.9737 x 1024 kg and 5.97219 x 1024 kg are both quite common, not to mention the (older) 5.976 x 1024 kg. I know that the measurement is not easy and that any small change in the accepted value of the gravitational constant implies a change in the accepted value of the mass of the Earth, the Moon, the Sun, etc.
But, is there any semi-official compilation of these estimates in order to be sure of the most updated and therefore accurate value?
The most recently updated value is 5.9726+-0.0007 x 10^{24} kg. This from Review of Particle Physics, published in Chinese Physics C, Vol. 38, number 9, 2014.
Thank you very much, Matts. Could you tell me (as I don't have access to that journal) which value of G they have used to do the calculation?
Unlike the mass of the Earth, the product GM (sometimes called the standard gravitational parameter and denoted with the Greek letter μ) is very well measured using, e.g., the orbits of spacecraft or the Moon: μ = (398600.4418 ± 0.0008) km3s−2 for the Earth. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_constant#The_GM_product).
From this and the mass of the Earth quoted above by Matts Roos, we get G = (6.6738 ± 0.0008) × 10−11m3kg−1s−2.
Hola José,
The Particle Data Group has used precisely the G value quoted above by V.T. Toth. The reference for it is P.J. Mohr et al.,J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data 41, 043109 (2012).
Thank you both (Matts and Viktor) for the informations.
So we may conclude that the any new measure of G affects (being GM roughly constant) the accepted value of M(Earth) and vice-versa?
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