Difference between Acceleration due to gravity at height ‘h’ and depth ‘d’
Acceleration due to gravity at height ‘h’
1) The magnitude of acceleration due to gravity above earth surface at altitude of ‘h’ is given as,
Where, M = mass of earth, R= radius of earth, G = universal gravitational constant and
h = height above earth surface.
2) The magnitude of acceleration due to gravity decreases as we go above the surface of earth.
3) The radius of earth is about 6400 km, thus the acceleration due to gravity doesn’t change by large extent when object is at smaller heights above the surface of earth like h= 1 km.
4) Acceleration due to gravity acting on object becomes zero when the height is infinitely large, i.e. h ≈ ∞
5) As the acceleration due to gravity decreases with height, weight of object also decreases since weight at height = mgh
Acceleration due to gravity at height ‘h’
1) The magnitude of acceleration due to gravity below earth surface at depth of ‘d’ is given as,
Where, M = mass of earth, R= radius of earth, G = universal gravitational constant and
d = depth below earth surface.
2) The magnitude of acceleration due to gravity decreases as we go below the surface of earth.
3) The radius of earth is about 6400 km, thus the acceleration due to gravity doesn’t change by large extent when object is at smaller depths the surface of earth like d = 1 km.
4) Acceleration due to gravity acting on object becomes zero when the object reached centre of earth,
At centre of earth, d=R, then
5) As the acceleration due to gravity decreases with depth, weight of object also decreases since weight at depth = mgd