Question

At which part of the earth’s surface, the value of g is largest?

(a) At the equator

(b) Immediately below the equator

(c) Immediately above the equator

(d) At the poles

I have been asked this question in unit test.

My enquiry is from Intensity of Gravitational Field in section Mechanical Properties of Solids of Engineering Physics I

Answer 1

The correct answer is (d) At the poles

To explain: Distance of poles from the centre of the earth is smaller than the distance of any other point on the earth’s surface from its centre. At poles, no centrifugal force acts on the body. Hence the value of g is largest at the poles.