THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
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43.6667° N    70.2667° W  Founded January 1970
2022-2023: LIX
Sunrise: 6:51 a.m.
Sunset: 5:00 p.m.
Civil twilight begins: 6:21 a.m.
Civil twilight ends: 5:30 p.m.
Sun's host constellation: Capricornus
Moon phase: Waning gibbous (97% illuminated)
Moonrise: 6:55 p.m.
Moonset: 8:25 a.m. (2/8/2023)
Julian date: 2459983.21
"Let us be moral. Let us contemplate existence."
-Charles Dickens (born 211 years ago today)

THE BI-WEEKLY ASTRONOMER
Tuesday, February 7,2023
Maximum Earth Gravity

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The 'Daily Astronomer' has gone away until the beginning of the new school year.For now, it has been replaced with 'the Bi-Weekly Astronomer,' which will post every Tuesday and Friday at noon.        When the DA does return -and it most assuredly will- we will reboot our 'Big History' series.    Thank you all for your patience and understanding. And, of course, thank you for reading the DA...or BWA
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Our very first BWA takes us to the now overflowing Pandora's Jar to answer a question about where on Earth one would have to go in order to weigh the most.

I would like to offer two answers to this question.

First, where along Earth’s surface would one experience the maximum surface gravity? If Earth were both perfectly spherical and uniformly dense the surface gravity would be constant along any point on the surface. Instead, however, Earth can be regarded as an oblate spheroid. Earth ‘bulges’ at the equator due to the planet’s rotation.

[Image credit: Humboldt State University]

Although the difference between the polar and equatorial diameters is slight, it does cause the value of Earth’s surface gravity to vary with latitude. Why? Because an object along the equator will be farther from Earth’s interior than an object at either pole.

Toward the equator, Earth’s surface gravity is at a minimum, around 9.77 m/s^2 The highest will be around either pole. So, where would one find the maximum point?

Christian Hirt, a geoscientist affiliated with Western Australian Centre for Geodesy, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia and his team conducted a thorough survey of Earth’s surface gravity through data collected from satellites such as GOCE.* In the 12 August 2013 issue of Geophysical Research Letters they produced ultra high resolution images of Earth’s gravitational field. The team also estimated the points of minimum and maximum surface gravity.

The maximum point is located in the Arctic Sea at latitude 86.71°N longitude 61.29° W. Here the surface gravity value is 9.83366 meters per second-squared.

Second answer:

However, the maximum gravitational pull one could experience on Earth would not be at this point along the surface of the Arctic Sea. Instead, the maximum ‘surface gravity’ of 10.7 meters per second squared occurs at a distance of 3740 km from Earth’s center, the region between the mantle and the outer core known as the Gutenberg discontinuity.

Earth’s surface gravity is highest (10.7 meters per second squared) along the Gutenberg discontinuity, the region separating the mantle and the outer core.

The surface gravity is maximum here because of the higher densities of the material within this region. Gauss’ law tells us that the gravity an object experiences is truly related to the mass within a certain volume because of the inverse square law. If you are close to a highly dense region, the matter near you will have more of an effect that the less dense material that is farther away.

So, if you want to experience the maximum surface gravity while still remaining on Earth’s surface, go to the Arctic Sea. If, however, you want to experience the maximum surface gravity anywhere on or in the planet, venture down to the Gutenberg discontinuity.

I hope this answer proves helpful

*GOCE = Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer.



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