What would happen to the weight if you measured something on a very high mountain compared to sea level?

Answer 1

Yes, but only minimally because your weight is gravity's pull on you, gravity weakens the further from the Earth you get.

Here's an equation:

Force = (Gravitational constant x (Earth's mass x Your mass)) ÷ (distance between gravitational centres)²

Gravitational constant gravitational constant = 6.67300 × 10-11 m3 kg-1 s-2

Distance between gravitional centres = distance between your stomach and centre of the earth.

When at 10,000ft(3.117km) above the equator your weight would differ by 1/(6378 squared/(6378 + 3.117)squared) or in simpler terms 0.1%.

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However, at the poles you would weigh slightly less. This is because the Earth is an oblong spheroid, and the radius of the Earth around the poles is 6357km and around the equator 6378km. Therefore there is less mass between you and the centre of the Earth

Therefore if you go from a beach on the Equator to the North Pole you could lose 1 pound and 3 ounces (0.539kg)!

Also the further into the Earth you get the less gravitational pull there is because there is less mass, this means that theoretically if somebody built a hole and you fell down it into the centre of the Earth you would just float!

Answer 2

The weight measured on a very high mountain would be slightly less than at sea level due to the lower gravity at higher elevations. This is because gravity decreases with distance from the center of the Earth, so the force pulling an object towards the Earth's center is weaker at higher altitudes.