Does gravity work differently at different places on Earth?

DW (English)

Gravity isn’t uniform everywhere on Earth. You weigh more at the poles, for instance, than at the equator. Why? This viewer question comes from Ola B. in Egypt.

Transcript

00:00Does gravity differ depending on where on Earth you are?

00:05Gravity, also known as gravitation, is a fundamental physical force that acts on all objects with mass.

00:14On Earth, it causes things to fall to the ground.

00:18It's also why the air in the atmosphere doesn't fly off into space.

00:23The greater an object's mass, the stronger the force of gravity acts on it.

00:29But don't confuse mass with weight.

00:32The mass of an object describes the amount of matter it contains,

00:36and that remains the same wherever the object happens to be.

00:40Its weight, on the other hand, depends on the force of gravity affecting it.

00:45An example, the mass of an astronaut on the moon doesn't change when they fly there,

00:51but they weigh just a sixth of what they weigh on Earth.

00:56For three reasons, your weight can also change depending on your location on Earth.

01:03First, because Earth is not a perfect sphere, it has lumps.

01:07The distance from the center of the Earth to the surface is also greater at the equator than at the poles,

01:13so gravity is weaker at the equator.

01:16The Earth's rotation amplifies this effect because centrifugal force is greater at the equator than at the poles.

01:24Second, there's elevation.

01:27When an object is at a great height, for example in an airplane or on a mountain,

01:32the distance to the center of the Earth is also greater, and the force weakens with distance.

01:38So the higher you go, the less gravity affects you.

01:42Third is geology.

01:46Earth's composition also influences gravity.

01:50Dense deposits of materials with lots of mass, for instance, can increase gravity locally.

01:58All this means you would weigh around half a percent more at the poles than at the equator.

02:04So even though we hardly notice the differences, gravity on Earth isn't uniform.

02:11Well, you can now get to the circle.

02:13First, I'll find out what you see.

02:14I saw out for you, and I could walk around half a percent more at the equator of the blue.

02:16I heard my choice when it was the pandemic.

02:18This is commuting and I was showing you how to reinforce it.

02:20And you know that I had a lot of friends on Earth and I was like,

02:21well, I'm not sure I'm going to stick around you.

02:23I got a lot of friends on Earth and I got a lot of friends on Earth.

02:25I got a lot of friends with him and I can see you.

02:26I know that I can see you.

02:27I got a lot of friends on Earth.

02:28And I got a lot of friends around here.

02:30I got a lot of friends.

02:31I got a lot of friends on Earth to theалась.

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