Why are you heavier at the poles than at the equator?

Answer 1

You weigh less at the poles than at the equator due to the little bit of centripetal force trying to fling you off the surface (but gravity is much stronger). Also the earth is not a perfect sphere - it's an oblate spheroid so you are closer to the center of mass at the poles than at the equator and gravity is inversely proportional to the distance between your center of mass and that of the Earth. Your mass doesn't change, just your weight. Gravity near the equator is about 9.782 m/s². Gravity at the North Pole is about 9.832 m/s². You would weigh about 0.5% more at the North Pole than at the equator. the situation is similar at the South Pole but the difference is slightly less because Antarctica is not at sea level. Although land at the South Pole is only about a hundred meters above sea level, the ice sheet above it is roughly 2,700 meters (9,000 feet) thick; the North Pole is much closer to sea level

You will weigh more at the North or South pole than you will at the equator. The difference will be extremely small.

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(from the physics book) You'll weigh more at the pole because you're closer to the earth's center of gravity. That happens because the earth is not a perfect sphere. It is "flattened" at the poles because of the rotation of the earth, and this causes our planet to "bulge" a bit at the equator.

In addition, a person on the equator will have the rotation of the earth trying to "throw them off" the planet. This will subtract a bit more from a person's weight at the equator.

In other words: You weigh LESS at the equator because of --greater distance from the center of mass and --acceleration due to the rotation of the earth. You weigh MORE at either of the poles because --you are closer to the earth's center of gravity and --there is no centripital force at the poles.

Either effect is very small; the difference in a person's weight will be less than one half of one percent. (Less than 0.5%)

If you use a scale that compares your weight to a set of of the scale's own weights, no difference will be seen, because the same forces will be working on those weights. You would have to use a spring scale to get an accurate reading.

Your mass through all this remains the same no matter where you are. It is your weight that varies because weight is a function of mass and gravity.

Answer 2

The Earth is not a perfect sphere. It is an oblate spheroid. The Earth bulges at the equator and the poles are flattened. The formula for calculating the force of attraction between to objects involves distance as one of the factors affecting the forces of attraction between the 2 objects.

Since you are closer to the center of the mass of the Earth at either of the poles the force of attraction is greater. A loose translation of Newton's Gravitational formula:

Force of Attraction between 2 objects = (Mass of Earth x Mass of person) divided by the square of the distance between the objects. Since the square of the distance from the center of the Earth to a person's location at either pole is less than the square of the distance of the same person located at the equator gives an answer where they weigh more at the poles than at the equator.

To abstractly check the logic, if you use 1 as the answer of the square of the distance for the pole than the distance the equator is more than one. Dividing the product of the masses by more than one will give you a smaller answer or less force of attraction-weight due to the greater distance.

Answer 3

gravity is more in the poles because poles are the extremes and equator is in middle which divides the earth into two

Answer 4

because poles hve more attraction capacity gravitational force

Answer 5

A person weighs the same at both. You will weigh the same no matter where you are on the surface of the earth because the gravitational pull is the same.

Answer 6

slightly less or much less

Answer 7

slightly greater (AR)