If the earth is a sphere, as we walk on its surface, are we constantly walking imperceptibly uphill, or imperceptibly downhill? Or something else?

Question

My family members say you’re walking downhill from the north pole to the equator, and uphill going the opposite way, but that doesn’t make sense, because you’re still walking along an arc on the sphere. I’ve stared and stared and stared at this baseball in my hand, but can’t figure it out.

In: Physics

Answer 1

When an object is in orbit it is said to be falling, it just has enough forward momentum to never hit the ground. Using this as a basis, I would say you are constantly walking downhill.

Now of course, the earth isn’t a perfect sphere so you are going up and down. If it was a perfect sphere, downhill is the way to go.