Is the gravity at the equator different to the north or south pole?

Question

just wondering if gravity is different in different in north middle and south of the earth? why because just wondering

Answer 1

Very slightly.
Because the Earth is not spherical, it is slightly flattened. therefore, at the poles, you are slightly closer to the center of mass than at the equator, so the gravitational pull would be greater.
There are also gravitational pulls from the moon & sun, which would be coming from a different angle.

Answer 2

Yes, there is a difference. The acceleration due to gravity (g) is slightly greater at the poles. It is ~9.832 ms^-2 at the North Pole and ~ 9.782 near the equator. The main reason is that the Earth is not a perfect sphere but flattened slightly at the poles. Therefore the radius of the Earth is less at the poles and the surface is closer to the centre of the earth. The effect is noticeable because the force of gravitation is inversely proportional to the radius squared. There are other reasons: The Earth's crust does not have a uniform density. Also the earth is spinning with greater linear speed at the equator.

Answer 3

Gravity is less at the equator due to the equatorial bulge. The spinning Earth makes the bulge which amounts to about 1/300 th of the radius. Since gravity obeys the inverse square law, this means that gravity at the equator is 1/150 th less (0.67%) than at the poles - a noticeable effect. In addition, there is centripetal acceleration at the equator, that is, the spinning of the Earth is throwing you into space as well as the bulge, this accounts for another 0.35% reduction in weight.

The effect of the Moon is much smaller. The Moon weighs 1/80 what the Earth does and is 60 times farther away than the Earth's center so its gravity is only 1/(80*60^2) = 0.0003% of the Earth's. It is even much smaller because it is a differential or tidal effect.

Answer 4

Yes it is. The earth is shaped like a slightly squashed orange, therefore on the equator one is further away from the centre of the earth than you are at the North or South Pole. Therefore your mass at the equator is less than at the poles as you are further away from the centre of gravity.

The Earth is very nearly a sphere and the gravitational attraction it exerts on a body at its surface is very nearly constant. The largest variation is the increase of gravity from the equator to the poles; this amounts to about five parts in a thousand and corresponds to the rotation of the Earth about its polar axis and the consequent flattening of the poles. It is also related to the way the density of the Earth increases from the surface to the centre. Added to this main change of gravity there are other, much smaller variations; these are related to variations of the density of the Earth close to the surface and thus to the geological structure of the superficial parts of the Earth, i.e. those that lie, roughly speaking, within 100 km of the surface.

Answer 5

Einstein's formula - Gravitational force = (G * m1 * m2) / (d2)
where G is the gravitational constant, m1 and m2 are the masses of the two objects for which you are calculating the force, and d is the distance between the centers of gravity of the two masses, would say that gravity would be more at the poles, since the distance between the centers of the earth and any other object would be less at the pole. The centrifugal force on any object becomes more as it moves away from the pole. This has nothing to do with the amount of gravitational force exerted but it does offset it some so that things at the equator should appear to weigh slightly less.

His formula is being contested.

Answer 6

Technically no, but you could argue that because of the following:

The Earth is fatter around the equator than from pole to pole and
Gravity is said to act from the core of the mass
Gravitational forces becomes weaker the further away the masses are

Then the Gravitational force at the equator should be less.

Answer 7

It is the same strength regarless of pole you are at. But gravity in the center of the planet will be different. Some people say less intense, some say more(myself).

I guess if you take elevation in effect then you would have different readings. But say if the elevation was in 'FC' (From Core) then you could have it say 50,000 miles FC at north pole, south pole or anywhere on earth and the gravity would be the same.

Answer 8

Sam J has it opposite, the earth is flatter at the poles, due to the bulge at the equator. Gravity is slightly different, just like the higher you go the less gravity. (Miniscule but different)

Answer 9

sure

all else being equal (i.e. same density of material below you),you'll have slightly stronger gravity at the equator because the Earth bulges very slightly due to its rotation.

of course all else is not equal, and there are regions of the Earth where gravity is, on average, a bit stronger, due to denser material below your feet.

Answer 10

Yes indeed - very slightly. That's because the earth bulges slightly at the equator - so you are further from the centre of the earth.