Are there places in the world where gravity is stronger than in most places?

Question

For example: we had a den in a Midwestern house that was a few feet--maybe three feet--closer to the ground than in the rest of the house. People felt in that room that gravity was stronger than in most places they'd experienced it.

What do you think? This was in farm country--not mountainous or unstable.

Answer 1

First, there is the variation of gravity with latitude that you alluded to: you weigh about 0.5% more at the poles than on the equator. There are two effects that contribute to this, and they are discussed in more detail in a previous question. (It should be noted, however, that only one of these effects is due to an actual difference in the gravitational force between the equator and poles - the other effect is due to the fact that the Earth is spinning, which affects the weight you would see when you stepped on a scale but does not actually represent a change in the value of the gravitational force.)

Second, gravity does indeed change with altitude. The gravitational force above the Earth's surface is proportional to 1/R2, where R is your distance from the center of the Earth. The radius of the Earth at the equator is 6,378 kilometers, so let's say you were on a mountain at the equator that was 5 kilometers high (around 16,400 feet). You would then be 6,383 kilometers from the Earth's center, and the gravitational force would have decreased by a factor of (6,378 / 6,383)2 = 0.9984. So the difference is less than 0.2%.

Finally, there are very small differences (on the order of 0.01% or less) in gravity due to differences in the local geology. For example, changes in the density of rock underneath you or the presence of mountains nearby can have a slight effect on the gravitational force.

Answer 2

The magnitude of the gravitational acceleration experienced by an object depends upon the mass of the object and the planet as well as the radial distance between the objects' centers of mass.
Given that, the gravitational acceleration experienced over the surface of the Earth is not totally uniform, there are locations where it is slightly above or under the average.

However, the differences in the gravitational acceleration does not vary greatly enough to cause any noticeable effect, the differences are just too small to matter.

Answer 3

j123 gave you a very good answer.

I have two small additional comments:

1. The force of gravity between two objects is centered near their center of mass, ie, the earth's gravitional pull is centered at the earth's core. But the gravitational pull is greatest on the earth's surface because the mass of the earth is completely below you. Let's say you were to go deep in one of the Witwatersrand gold mines in South Africa - you would weigh a little less (but still have the same mass) there than you would on the surface. That's because part of the earth's mass in now above you, and is "attracting" you from the center of the earth. Therefore, if you were able to travel to the center of the earth you would be weightless.

2. The force of gravity on the earth's surface is influenced by the density of the rocks in the earth's crust. The denser the rock, the greater the force of gravity. For example if you were to stand on top of a large peridotite body you would weigh more than if you were on a limestone body. Geologists and geophysicists measure gravity to determine various characteristics of the earth.

But the difference over one meter (3') in your house would barely be measurable even with the most sensitive of gravimeters. The human body is not able to determine the force of gravity with that kind of sensitivity.

Answer 4

the mass of the earth is what gives it a gravitational pull and you have to be much further away from the earth to notice a difference. You wouldn't even feel the difference if you were flying in an airplane, because it is still minute compared to the size of the earth and how close you are to it. The difference is not even detectable in your home by a scale. You might have a millionth of a gram difference in your weight from the basement to the roof.

Answer 5

Yes it differs depending on your distance away from sea level. 3 feet would be such a minute difference. If remember correclty at like 40 ft its something like 9.798 m/s^2 compared to 9.8 m/s^2 at sea level. That could be utterly wrong but it is a very small difference

Answer 6

i dont think gravity can change in a few feet maybe its in there head i dont know me typeing this my be all in my head i may wake up in a few secounds i dont know im going tot go try and slay this dragon and save princess toad stool o ya and save here ninja slaves there being torched my being made to eat nasty old expired maynass c ya ok i hope im not dreaming lol i cant be can i i dont know well im just makeing a really long list of crap now and prolonging ur pane cuase im spelling every thing wrong cuase i really dont care and im to lazy to check my spelling so i guess bye but how many letters can i fit in this tthing lets c ill spll hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm well i can still type more here so lets do that agin hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm damn still here arnt i well i gess ill kill those ninjas now ok bbyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee OK IM GETING TYERD NOW EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE OK FOR REAL BYE OK PERIOS..................

Answer 7

You sure it wasnt just fully packed to give somebody a claustrophobic feeling because if it was then it would have altered with peoples psycology and made them think it had more of a gravitational pull on it.

Answer 8

the gravity you felt is really a spirit.the house is probably haunted.some spirits linger around & mean no harm.they're just lost spirits.

Answer 9

yes