Do people weigh less at the equator than at the poles?

Question

The earth is spinning at about 1,000 miles per hour. How fast would the earth have to spin to make a noticeable weight loss difference? There is no spin at the poles.

Answer 1

The angular velocity of earth is 2π/24 hr^-1, and its radius at the equator is 4000mi. The centrifugal acceleration at the equator is w^2*r = .003g. Therefore you would weigh .3% less at the equator than the pole. This is not exact since I did not take into account the fact that the earth's diameter at the equator is slightly larger than at the poles, but that has the effect of increasing weight (more mass directly under you at the equator) as well as increasing centrifugal force (larger r) so the effect is probably negligible.

Answer 2

Based on a quick calculation, I think that the acceleration effect (centrifugal force) amounts to about 0.1 feet / sec^2.
This is quite small in comparison to the force of gravity, which is 32.16 feet / sec^2.
So, yes, the centrifugal force reduces one's weight (not one's mass, of course), but by a very small amount (about 0.3%, which would amount to less than a half pound for a 150-pound person).

I think that there is a bigger effect on weight at the equator based on the fact that the earth's diameter is slightly greater there than at the poles (which means a person at the equator is farther from the earth's center of gravity). However, I don't know what percentage difference this makes.

How fast would the earth have to spin to make the weight loss noticeable?
Well, would 10% be noticeable? That's 33 times as much as the effect at the earth's actual rate of spin. The effect is proportional to the square of velocity, so the 1000 miles per hour would have to increase by a factor equal to the square root of 33, which is a bit under 6.
So if the earth were spinning 6 times as fast, and days were 4 hours long instead of 24, a person who grew up near the north pole would notice a 10% difference in weight if he/she visited the equator.

Answer 3

Since the linear speed at the poles is zero; the ‘g’ is the maximum at poles = 9.8322.

The linear speed at the equator is the maximum 465m/s
1040.1 mile per hour (1674 km/hour)

Due to spin the equatorial radius of the earth is 6378.2 km where as the polar radius is 6356.8 km.

V^2 /R at the equator is 0.0339m/s^2.

Therefore so much is reduced from the ‘g’ at the poles.

1 kg at poles will weigh only 0.97983 kg at the equator.

This weight difference is noticeable.

If an object should loose all its weight at the equator, the earth has to spin with a speed of 8,000 m/s, 17 times greater than the present speed.

Or if the object has a speed of 8000m/s, then again it will not press the earth.

Answer 4

In general, as you move toward one of the Poles, The horizontal Coriolis effects grow, and the vertical one shrink, whereas if you move toward the equator the horizontal effects shrink and the vertical grows.

The further inside Earth towards the Core you go radius decreases (the force you feel decreasing) the less you weigh. The further away form Earth's core the more you weigh.

If you are near the pole, the axis of the Earth's rotation is nearly vertical relative to the horizon, and as things spin in the sky, they move nearly horizontally. (SIMILAR) The Coriolis effects are completely horizontal. But if you were near the equator, where the Earth's axis is nearly horizontal, things spinning around the sjky would move nearly vertically, and the Coriolis effects are almost completely vertical. At in-between latitudes, the stars rise and set at an angle to both the vertical and horizontal, and there are both vertical and horizontal Coriolis effects.

Earth has three motions:
1. It does spin like a top around the axis (also known as the imaginary line) the axis runs from the North pole to the South pole.
2. It travels around the sun in a path called the orbit. Earth is about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) from the sun and takes a full year to complete only a single orbit around the sun.
3. It moves through the Milky Way along with the sun and the rest of the solar system.

Earth travels in it's orbit at 66,700 miles (107,000 kilometers) an hour, or 18.5 miles (30 kilometers) per second
The diameter of Earth from North pole to South pole is7,899.83 miles (12,713.54 kilometers) Through the equator it is 7,926.41 miles (12,756.32 kilometers)

Answer 5

All different issues equivalent... definite. That consequences through fact centrifugal tension counter acts the centripetal tension coming from the pull of gravity. So the internet acceleration on the floor of the planet is going something like a' = g - a = g - w^2 r = g - w^2 R cos(lat); the place R is the standard radius of Earth and lat is the type. w = angular velocity of Earth's rotation (e.g., 2pi radians/24 hr). g ~ 9.eighty one m/sec^2. As you will see that, the offsetting a acceleration is astounding whilst lat = 0 deg, the equator. And it is going to 0 whilst lat = ninety at the two pole. we could continuously additionally investigate g. g = GM/r^2; the place G is a relentless, M is Earth's mass, and r is the gap to the middle of that mass. And that r isn't fixed around the floor of the planet. in fact R > r on the equator the place r is the radius on the poles. this suggests the pull of gravity, denoted by using the gravity field g, is better on the poles than on the equator. this is better there through fact issues are closer to the middle of mass. So we've not purely the upward thrust in centrifugal tension on the equator, we unquestionably have an somewhat reasonable decrease interior the pull of gravity itself. My factor is that there are unquestionably 2 actual effects at paintings to make weight much less around the middle of the Earth. yet as yet another answer referred to, the distinction is ever so reasonable and different than whilst applying precise measuring instruments this is unnoticeable.

Answer 6

The earth bulges at the equator due to the earth's rotation. Since the equator is slightly further away from the center of the earth then the poles, you'd have less gravity pulling on you since you would be a little further away from earth's gravitational field. The effect is not big enough to be noticeable though.

Answer 7

Yes, but only very slightly. This is due to the centrifugal force of the earth's rotation.

Answer 8

There is slightly less gravity at the equator, so either way, you would have to be at the poles to weigh more.

Answer 9

due to centrifugal force due to earth"s rotation

Answer 10

i have heard this and it is said that it is true base on heat rises i believe?