^{By Amal Pushp, Affiliate Physicist at the Resonance Science Foundation}

Why do apples fall from the trees? This was one of the first questions that led to a revolution in our understandings of physics in general and the fundamental forces of nature in particular. The answer according to eminent physicist Isaac Newton is the gravitational force. But what determines the strength of the gravitational force or for that matter any fundamental force? There is a coupling constant that is uniquely associated with every force and which is also responsible for determining the strength of its interaction.

Several experiments have been conducted to determine the value of the constant associated with the gravitational force but none have been accurate enough to the satisfaction of the physics community. Although the experiments have continually tried to advance the precision aspect, the value of G is the least precise of all the four basic forces, the reason being simple, that it interacts very...