Is Gravity stronger, say, at the bottom of a mine one mile deep than it is at the top of a 100 story building?

Question

This isn't a homework question. I actually know the answer. The yes'es are correct, though the difference is very small indeed.
Actually, it was thinking about black holes that got me thinking about this. Gravity in a black hole is much stronger the farther into it you go. That's why you'd stretch apart; because the gravity at your feet would be stronger that at your head.

Answer 1

Yes, but only very slightly, since the force due to gravity varies as the square of the distance separating the centers of mass.

Answer 2

In short, yes.

If the earth were made of the same material throughout, then the deeper you went, the weaker gravity would seem. This is because the deeper you go, the more matter there would be above you pulling you up and negating the effects of the rest of the planet pulling you down.

However, because the earth is actually made of heavier materials in its interior, gravity actually increases with depth for a while since the rocks above you are light compared to the core below you. Thus you're pulled down harder since you're close to the heavy stuff, and the light stuff can't pull up very hard. After you pass through the crust, then gravity would decrease until you reached the center where it would be zero.

Gravity at the top of a 100 story building is weaker because you're farther from the mass of the earth. You would weigh .9999 as much as normal. For a 150 lb person, the difference would be about 1/4 ounce.

Answer 3

At the bottom of the shaft it would be less than on the building.
The mass and gravity is concentrated at the center of all celestial bodies if you are above the surface.
When you penetrate the surface some of the mass and gravity is between you and the surface.
With a black hole,when you penetrate the event horizon the mass and gravity are still concentrated at the center,so it gets stronger the deeper you go.
This poses a problem.
The surface orbital velocity of a black hole is "C" the speed of light which can't be exceeded
You could not penetrate the surface without increasing your speed.
A bit of a problem eh!!

Answer 4

Yes, because the closer you get to the center of the Earth, the more an item weighs (mass stays the same). It would be better explained if you look at something out in space- if it is really far away from Earth, it is barely affected by Gravity. Eventually, if it is close enough, gravity starts to act on it. Or, you could use relativity to explain it- think of the universe as a big blanket, with a bunch of different sized balls (bowling balls, golf balls, etc) larger balls make a bigger impression on the fabric of the universe, and things start rolling at them from farther away. Hope that makes sense. Anyway, the answer is yes.

Answer 5

No the gravity is stronger at the top of a 100 story building because there is a huge mass that attract you which is the earth

Answer 6

Actually the gravitational pull of the buildings mass would be added to the pull of the Earth causing you to weigh slightly more than if you were on the surface, at the bottom of the mine shaft there would be less of the Earth below you so there theoretically would be less gravitational pull but other factors would come into play such as the pull of the material above you, etc. At the center of the Earth the gravitational pull would be fairly evenly spaced around you in effect creating a zero G enviroment

Answer 7

Great question. I'll keep posted in case someone smarter than me posts an answer. My guess is that gravity would be strongest on the surface of the planet.

The effects would become less as you move away from the planet because gravity is known to decrease over distance and they would be less as you move into the object since there is less mass beneath you.

Answer 8

Once you get under the surface of the earth, the effect of gravity on you will lessen because the deeper you go, the more earth you have above pulling up, thus the closer you get to the core of the earth, the closer you get to zero-g. Also as you get above the surface of the earth, the effects of gravity will lessen since gravity decreases the further you get away from the earth.