The Force of Gravity
The term gravitygravity is commonly used synonymously with gravitation, but in correct usage a definite distinction is made. Whereas gravitation is the attractive force acting to draw any bodies together, gravity indicates that force in operation between the earth and other bodies, i.e., the force acting to draw bodies toward the earth. The force tending to hold objects to the earth's surface depends not only on the earth's gravitational field but also on other factors, such as the earth's rotation. The measure of the force of gravity on a given body is the weight of that body; although the mass of a body does not vary with location, its weight does vary. It is found that at any given location, all objects are accelerated equally by the force of gravity, observed differences being due to differences in air resistance, etc. Thus, the acceleration due to gravity, symbolized as g, provides a convenient measure of the strength of the earth's gravitational field at different locations. The value of g varies from about 9.832 meters per second per second (m/sec2) at the poles to about 9.780 m/sec2 at the equator. Its value generally decreases with increasing altitude. Because variations in the value of g are not large, for ordinary calculations a value of 9.8 m/sec2, or 32 ft/sec2, is commonly used.
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