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Question

Why do our weight changes from place to place?

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Solution

Weight change from place to place because it is a strong function of gravity.

Weight = mass x gravity

Recall that mass is universally constant. Hence weight varies becuas gravity varies. Meaning that a body will not weigh the same amount every where across the earth surface.

The following can be responsible for variation in weight:

Shape of the earth - the earth is an oblate spheroid, meaning it doesn't have uniform radius all through it's surface. This makes some places closer to the centre of the earth ( e.g the poles), while some other places are far away from the earth centre (the equator).

Remember from Newton's law of universal gravitation, weight of an object is inversely related to square of its mean distance (also called inverse square law). This is why an object somewhere close to the equator will be lighter than the same object placed somewhere closer to the pole.

Other reason for variation of weight across the earth's surface are, rotation of the earth, altitude and local topography of the area.


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