2007-09-16 07:02:49 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Also the Earth is not a perfect sphere (it's fatter at the equator). So you are slightly closer to the center if you are at the North Pole than if you are standing at the equator. So latitude as well as altitude above sea level matters.
2007-09-16 07:12:21 · answer #1 · answered by laser_princess 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You actually weigh less the closer you are to the earth's center, and more if the *ground* you're standing on is at high altitude. Folks that tell you otherwise (the majority, it seems) just memorized the inverse square law in school, but never really understood its context or how to apply it correctly. It only applied to point particles and (via Gauss' law) the *exterior* of spherically symmetric mass distributions, from which the earth deviates. You also have to take into account the centrifugal "force" that opposes gravity preferentially at lower latitudes.
2007-09-16 14:19:50 · answer #2 · answered by Dr. R 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Because you are closer or further away from the center of the earth, which is the gravitational center of the planet. The closer you are, the heavier you weigh.
2007-09-16 14:07:02 · answer #3 · answered by treseuropean 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I didn't know it was...now I know!
2007-09-16 14:13:58 · answer #4 · answered by S/-\L 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋