Acceleration Due to Gravity Video Lessons

Concept

Problem: A sensitive gravimeter at a mountain observatory finds that the free-fall acceleration is 0.0055m/s2 less than that at sea level (gsealevel = 9.83 m/s2).What is the observatory's altitude? Assume Rearth = 6.37

FREE Expert Solution

Gravitational acceleration:

$\overline{){\mathbf{g}}{\mathbf{=}}\frac{\mathbf{G}{\mathbf{M}}_{\mathbf{E}}}{{\mathbf{R}}^{\mathbf{2}}}}$

g = 9.8 m/s2

g' = (9.83 - 0.0055) = 9.8245 m/s2

R = 6.37

R' = R + h = (6.37 + h)

Problem Details

A sensitive gravimeter at a mountain observatory finds that the free-fall acceleration is 0.0055m/s2 less than that at sea level (gsealevel = 9.83 m/s2).

What is the observatory's altitude? Assume Rearth = 6.37