MadSci Network: Earth Sciences |
Questions: How much gravity is on Earth? And how does it depend on the size on Earth?. Answers: I will take it for granted that your question ought to have been phrased as "What is the gravitation force between an object and the Earth? And the relationship of the latter with size (that is, "mass") and distance (that is, distance from the center of the Earth to the center of the object)?. The Earth exerts a downward gravitational force on an object near its surface. The gravitational pull of the Earth on the Moon, for example, keeps the Moon revolving around the Earth just as the pull of the Sun keeps the Earth revolving around the Sun (Reference: "Principles of College Physics by Shortley and Williams"). Forces of attraction between two bodies on Earth is related to the following expression: ; where R is the distance from the center of the Earth to the particle or object; mE is the mass of Earth and m is the mass of the referenced object. On the other hand, gravitational constant G is equal to 0.000000000000667 Nm2/kg2 . The extremely small magnitude of G shows that the gravitational forces between bodies on the Earth's surface are extremely small and quite negligible. Please be careful; the quantity G is very different from the gravitational acceleration, g, which is 9.8 m/s2. The approximate radius of Earth is 6400000 meter. At a particular location near the Earth, the gravitational acceleration is constant in magnitude and direction. At or near the Earth's surface the magnitude of 'g' is approximately equal to 9.8 m/s2 and g is directed vertically downward. For your information, Newton's third principle holds rigorously no matter what the state of motion of the bodies may be. This principle holds in cases of action at a distance such as occur with gravitational forces.
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