Does the acceleration of a freely falling object depend to any extent on the location?

Question

Does the acceleration of a freely falling object depend to any extent on the location, -- that is, whether the object is on top of Mt. Everest or in Death Valley, California?

Answer 1

In actuality yes but under almost every case the difference is negligible since the distance that matters is the distance between the object and the earth center and this distance is much larger than the respective altitude difference. 9.81 m/s^2 and 32.2 ft/s^2 will most always be used.

Answer 2

Excellent question...in fact it does.

We often use something like g = 9.81 m/sec^2 or 32.2 ft/sec^2 in physics problems to represent the average acceleration due to gravity AT EARTH's surface. This g value, however, is strongly dependent on the mass of the Earth (M), mass of the falling object (m), and the square of the distances (r^2) between the centers of the two masses.

If g(r = R) is the gravitational acceleration at Earth's surface (or any planetary surface) and g(r = R + h) is the gravitation acceleration at altitude h above that surface, we can write g(r = R + h) = g(r = R)(R^2)/(R + h)^2. Thus, as you can see, the acceleration of a freely falling body at altitude would be less than that same body on the surface.

Answer 3

relies upon the place you're. At sea point that's 9.81m/s^2. The Newtonian regulation is: a = GM/r^2 the place M is the mass of the physique you're falling in the direction of, and r is the gap to its centre. So for our bodies of the comparable density d=M/R^3, this suggests that a=GRd, that's why the acceleration by means of gravity is lots extra suitable on the earth than on the Moon.

Answer 4

well, the acceleration of gravity is generically said to be 9.8 meters/second squared. It will probably differ at those two locations since they are at extreme elevations on earth. The air pressure at the top of Mt. Everest would be very different than at sealevel, ditto for Death Valley. And air pressure interferes with acceleration, but it most likely can't be measured though

Answer 5

To Any Extent

Answer 6

Yes. The acceleration due to gravity varies depending on the distance from the center of the Earth and the density of the underlying local rocks.

You can buy meters to measure local gravity, and oil companies use these to look for oil.

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Answer 7

The denser the air (barometric pressure I believe relates to it) the slower an object will accelerate. Wind speed and direction also will effect this.