• cynar@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The difference is about 0.5%. A mass weighing 100kg at the north pole would only weigh 99.5kg at the equator. Most of the difference is the centerfugal force of the earth’s rotation.

    I’ve not checked the numbers, but apparently it’s detectable in Olympic sports. More height records get broken at equatorial latitudes that higher ones.

    • wanderer@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      A mass weighing 100kg at the north pole would only weigh 99.5kg at the equator

      That assumes a perfectly spherical earth. The earth is not perfectly spherical.

      • gentooer@programming.dev
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        1 year ago

        This. Planets are in hydrostatic equilibrium, meaning that the combined acceleration by gravity and the centrifugal “force” is equal all over the world (except for local differences due to mountains and dense crust).