Gravitational acceleration

In physics, gravitational acceleration is often described as the acceleration of an object caused by the force of gravity from another object. Any object will accelerate in a gravitational field at the same rate, regardless of the mass of the object. On the surface of the Earth, all objects are said to fall with an acceleration of somewhere between 9.78 and 9.82 m/s² depending on latitude, with a conventional standard value of exactly 9.80665 m/s², (approx. 32.174 ft/s²).^{[1] [2]}

The gravitational acceleration towards an object is given by:

where:

m is the mass of the object,

r is the distance from center of mass of the object to the location we are considering,

is the unit vector from center of the object to the location we are considering,

G is the gravitational constant of the universe.

Notes

1. ^ The international system of units (SI) - United States Department of Commerce, NIST Special Publication 330, 2001, p. 29
2. ^ The International System of Units (SI) - Bureau international des poids et mesures, 8th edition, 2006, p. 142-143

See also

• Newton's law of universal gravitation
• Air track
• Standard gravity