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Gravity on the Earth's surface varies by around 0.7%, from 9.7639 m/s 2 on the Nevado Huascarán mountain in Peru to 9.8337 m/s 2 at the surface of the Arctic Ocean. [6] In large cities, it ranges from 9.7806 m/s 2 [ 7 ] in Kuala Lumpur , Mexico City , and Singapore to 9.825 m/s 2 in Oslo and Helsinki .
At a fixed point on the surface, the magnitude of Earth's gravity results from combined effect of gravitation and the centrifugal force from Earth's rotation. [2] [3] At different points on Earth's surface, the free fall acceleration ranges from 9.764 to 9.834 m/s 2 (32.03 to 32.26 ft/s 2), [4] depending on altitude, latitude, and longitude.
All that was needed to obtain a numerical value for standard gravity was now to measure the gravitational strength at the International Bureau. This task was given to Gilbert Étienne Defforges of the Geographic Service of the French Army. The value he found, based on measurements taken in March and April 1888, was 9.80991(5) m⋅s −2. [6]
The value of the constant G was first accurately determined from the results of the Cavendish experiment conducted by the British scientist Henry Cavendish in 1798, although Cavendish did not himself calculate a numerical value for G. [5] This experiment was also the first test of Newton's theory of gravitation between masses in the laboratory.
It is also known as the universal gravitational constant, the Newtonian constant of gravitation, or the Cavendish gravitational constant, [a] denoted by the capital letter G. In Newton's law, it is the proportionality constant connecting the gravitational force between two bodies with the product of their masses and the inverse square of their ...
A common misconception occurs between centre of mass and centre of gravity.They are defined in similar ways but are not exactly the same quantity. Centre of mass is the mathematical description of placing all the mass in the region considered to one position, centre of gravity is a real physical quantity, the point of a body where the gravitational force acts.
In physics, gravity (from Latin gravitas 'weight' [1]) is a fundamental interaction primarily observed as mutual attraction between all things that have mass.Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 10 38 times weaker than the strong interaction, 10 36 times weaker than the electromagnetic force and 10 29 times weaker than the weak interaction.
The standard gravitational parameter μ of a celestial body is the product of the gravitational constant G and the mass M of that body. For two bodies, the parameter may be expressed as G(m 1 + m 2), or as GM when one body is much larger than the other: = (+).