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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.
For an object of mass the energy required to escape the Earth's gravitational field is GMm / r, a function of the object's mass (where r is radius of the Earth, nominally 6,371 kilometres (3,959 mi), G is the gravitational constant, and M is the mass of the Earth, M = 5.9736 × 10 24 kg).
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.
One g is the force per unit mass due to gravity at the Earth's surface and is the standard gravity (symbol: g n), defined as 9.806 65 metres per second squared, [5] or equivalently 9.806 65 newtons of force per kilogram of mass.
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 ...
According to general relativity, mass distorts spacetime and gravity is a natural consequence of Newton's First Law. Mass tells spacetime how to bend, and spacetime tells mass how to move. In general relativity gravitational energy is extremely complex, and there is no single agreed upon definition of the concept.