Hear me out, gravity pulls us towards itself. It is determined by the magnitude of mass of that object. As we go deeper in earth, the amount of mass ‘under’ us decreases and so doesn’t the gravity also decrease? Have been thinking about it since I was 12, I am 15 now 🙂
Edit : It wouldn’t be right to thank just one of you by replying as I have seen some other people do but thanks for all the replies, I really appreciate it.
In: 219
If the Earth was a ball of uniform stone, then you’re right, gravity would get weaker as you went down, since more of the stone would be pulling you up.
The Earth is not a uniform ball of stone though. The surface is made from relatively light, fluffy stone (it’s floating on top of everything else after all), and the centre holds a lot more of the mass, being a giant chunk of molten metal.
So as you go down from the surface, the rock above you really doesn’t contribute much to the total mass of the Earth. Most of the Earth will still be under you for quite a while, but you’re getting closer to it, which increases gravity. (Gravity gets stronger with mass, weaker with distance)
Eventually, you will reach a point where the gravity starts to get weaker again because you’re starting to pass the actual heavy substance, and from there it decreases to 0 at the centre of the Earth, as you’d expect.
Latest Answers