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The gravity of Earth, denoted by g, is the net acceleration that is imparted to objects due to the combined effect of gravitation (from mass distribution within Earth) and the centrifugal force (from the Earth's rotation).
The publication of the law has become known as the "first great unification", as it marked the unification of the previously described phenomena of gravity on Earth with known astronomical behaviors. [1] [2] [3] This is a general physical law derived from empirical observations by what Isaac Newton called inductive reasoning. [4]
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.
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.
These changes can be the result of mass displacements inside the Earth, or of vertical movements of the Earth's crust on which measurements are being made. [c] The first gravimeters were vertical accelerometers, specialized for measuring the constant downward acceleration of gravity on the Earth's surface. The Earth's vertical gravity varies ...
Image depicting Earth's gravitational field. Objects accelerate towards the Earth, thus losing their gravitational energy and transforming it into kinetic energy. Gravitational energy or gravitational potential energy is the potential energy a massive object has due to its position in a gravitational field.
In scientific contexts, mass is the amount of "matter" in an object (though "matter" may be difficult to define), but weight is the force exerted on an object's matter by gravity. [1] At the Earth's surface, an object whose mass is exactly one kilogram weighs approximately 9.81 newtons, the product of its mass and the gravitational field ...
The gravitational constant G is a key quantity in Newton's law of universal gravitation.. The gravitational constant is an empirical physical constant involved in the calculation of gravitational effects in Sir Isaac Newton's law of universal gravitation and in Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.