Our earth imposes on us an effective acceleration of 9.8 m/s2,
a quantity often labeled 1 g. It has been shown that this gravitational
acceleration is exactly equivalent to other forms of acceleration.
The easiest and most common way to produce high gravity is with a
centrifuge, which relies on the principles of angular motion. It is
easily shown that an object, (such as a ball), rotating about a fixed
center point, (such as a stick attached to the ball by string), is
always accelerating towards the center of rotation. As a result of
this acceleration, a person placed on the ball would seem to feel
a pull to the outside. This so-called centrifugal force, however,
is not truly a force: the real force is a result of the centripetal
acceleration towards the center of rotation. In any case, it has been
shown that the force felt by the person is exactly equivalent to a
force produced by gravity [Paule]. Thus, gravity can be
simulated with a centrifuge, according to the formula
.
Particles placed in a solvent under high simulated gravity will rapidly sink to the bottom of the container, a very practical process called sedimentation. Although many factors govern the rate at which sedimentation takes place, the following four are the most important. Firstly, and most obviously, more massive particles will settle more quickly. Secondly, particles in a dense solution will settle more slowly, because the upward buoyant force is proportional to the mass of displaced solvent. Thirdly, dense particles will settle more quickly, since they are smaller for the same mass and thus the upward buoyant force is decreased. Finally, particles in viscous solvents settle more slowly. The velocity of sedimentation, that is the speed at which the particles move toward the bottom of the container, is given by
where m is the mass of the particle,
is the partial specific volume of the particle (which is given as
the inverse its density,
), 
is the density of the solution, and f is the frictional coefficient
of the particle [Paule]. It is this sort of sedimentation
that we will be looking for in our experiment.
The method we plan to use for our experiment will make use of the fact that ions in solution will conduct an electric current. Since they are charged particles, they accomplish this simply by moving themselves. When a potential difference is introduced between two electrodes, the positive ions (cations) will flow toward the negative electrode (the cathode), and the anions will flow toward the anode [Zumdahl]. The ions will migrate with an average speed of v=uE, where E is the electric field generated by the potential difference, and u is the empirical mobility of the ion [Soonho]. We will also make use of the fact that many cation-cathode combinations result in visible plating on the cathode. The positive cation, upon reaching the electron-abundant cathode, will be reduced, and thus reverts to its neutral atomic state, and attaches to the cathode. We hope to make an apparatus where the migrating cations will hit the cathode in a small, localized region. If we can accomplish this, then we should be able to measure how far the ion's migration path is disturbed.