Loránd Eötvös - 2026 ACF Regionals

Question

This physicist discovered an effect in which Earth’s measured gravitational acceleration depends on the direction a ship is traveling. For 10 points each:

[10h] Name this physicist who names a unit equal to 10 to the negative ninth gals per centimeter, the unit of gravitational gradient.

ANSWER: Loránd Eötvös (“UT-vush”) [or Baron Loránd Eötvös de Vásárosnamény; or Eötvös Loránd; accept Eötvös effect]

[10e] The magnitude of the Eötvös effect is proportional to this function of the latitude. The normal force on an inclined object is proportional to this trigonometric function of the angle, which equals 1 at zero degrees.

ANSWER: cosine [or cos]

[10m] Eötvös more famously used a torsion balance to demonstrate this principle. The weak version of this principle states that gravitational mass and inertial mass are identical.

ANSWER: equivalence principle [accept weak equivalence principle]

<DM, Physics>

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Summary


California (North)	Main Site	Y	3	16.67	100%	67%	0%
Canada	Main Site	Y	10	14.00	90%	40%	10%
Florida	Main Site	Y	3	10.00	100%	0%	0%
Great Lakes	Main Site	Y	5	20.00	100%	60%	40%
Lower Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	9	10.00	78%	22%	0%
Midwest	Main Site	Y	8	15.00	75%	63%	13%
Northeast	Main Site	Y	5	8.00	60%	20%	0%
Overflow	Main Site	Y	4	12.50	100%	25%	0%
South Central	Main Site	Y	2	15.00	100%	50%	0%
Southeast	Main Site	Y	7	12.86	71%	57%	0%
UK	Main Site	Y	6	13.33	83%	50%	0%
Upper Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	8	16.25	88%	75%	0%
Upstate NY	Main Site	Y	4	12.50	100%	25%	0%

Data


Berkeley B	Stanford A	0	10	0	10
Berkeley A	Berkeley C	0	10	10	20
Berkeley D	Stanford B	0	10	10	20
McMaster A	McGill B	0	10	0	10
McMaster B	McGill A	0	10	0	10
Toronto Metropolitan	Simon Fraser	0	0	0	0
Toronto G	Toronto B	0	10	0	10
Waterloo A	Toronto C	0	10	0	10
Toronto E	Carleton University	0	10	10	20
Toronto F	Western C	0	10	0	10
UBC A	Guelph	10	10	10	30
Toronto D	UBC B	0	10	10	20
Waterloo B	Western A	0	10	10	20
Central Florida A	Central Florida C	0	10	0	10
Florida B	Central Florida B	0	10	0	10
Florida A	Florida C	0	10	0	10
Ohio State A	CWRU B	10	10	10	30
Michigan A	Michigan State	0	10	0	10
CWRU A	Michigan B	10	10	10	30
North Carolina C	Duke	0	10	0	10
VCU	North Carolina A	0	10	0	10
North Carolina B	Liberty C	0	10	10	20
NC State A	South Carolina B	0	10	0	10
James Madison B	Virginia Tech A	0	10	0	10
Virginia Tech B	NC State B	0	0	0	0
South Carolina A	Virginia	0	10	10	20
Wake Forest	James Madison A	0	10	0	10
Liberty B	William and Mary	0	0	0	0
Ohio State B	Pittsburgh	0	10	10	20
Michigan C	Ohio State C	0	10	0	10
Chicago B	Illinois B	0	10	10	20
Indiana A	Chicago C	10	10	10	30
Chicago D	Indiana C	0	10	10	20
Chicago E	Northwestern B	0	10	10	20
Indiana B	Northwestern C	0	0	0	0
Northwestern D	Purdue A	0	10	0	10
Chicago A	Notre Dame A	0	0	10	10
Notre Dame B	Illinois C	0	10	0	10
Bowdoin A	Brown	0	0	0	0
Brandeis A	Bowdoin B	0	0	0	0
Brandeis B	Dartmouth B	0	10	0	10
Dartmouth A	MIT	0	10	0	10
Harvard A	Yale	0	10	10	20
Claremont	Carleton College	0	10	10	20
Missouri B	Minnesota A	0	10	0	10
Washington A	Georgia Tech A	0	10	0	10
Washington B	Missouri A	0	10	0	10
Texas A&M A	Murray State A	0	10	0	10
Texas A	Texas B	0	10	10	20
Georgia Tech D	Alabama A	0	10	10	20
Georgia Tech B	Bruin	0	10	0	10
WashU A	Georgia Tech C	0	0	10	10
Tennessee B	Louisville A	0	0	0	0
WashU B	Mississipi State	0	10	0	10
Tennessee A	Kentucky	0	10	10	20
Alabama B	Vanderbilt B	0	10	10	20
Birmingham	Edinburgh A	0	10	0	10
Cambridge A	Manchester	0	10	10	20
Cardiff	Warwick A	0	0	0	0
Southampton B	Montpellier	0	10	0	10
Southampton A	Oxford C	0	10	10	20
Warwick B	Imperial B	0	10	10	20
Georgetown	Catholic	0	10	0	10
NYU A	Columbia A	0	10	10	20
Swarthmore	Columbia B	0	10	10	20
Rutgers A	Columbia C	0	0	10	10
John Jay	Johns Hopkins A	0	10	10	20
Maryland A	Maryland B	0	10	0	10
Rutgers B	Johns Hopkins B	0	10	10	20
Maryland C	Vassar	0	10	10	20
Cornell A	Penn State	0	10	0	10
Cornell B	Binghamton A	0	10	0	10
RIT	Cornell C	0	10	10	20
Rochester	Binghamton B	0	10	0	10