Question

Which is true concerning the acceleration due to gravity? A. It decreases with increasing altitude. B. It is different for different objects in free fall. C. It is a fundamental quantity. D. It is a universal constant. E. all of these

Answer 1

Answer:

The correct answer is  option 'a': It decreases with increase in altitude

Explanation:

Acceleration due to gravity is the acceleration that a  body is subjected to when it is freely dropped from a height from surface of any planet, ignoring the resistance that the object may face in it's motion such as drag due to any fluid.. The acceleration due to gravity is same for all the objects and is independent of their masses, it only depends on the mass of the planet and the radius of the planet on which the object is dropped. it's values varies with:

1) Depth from surface of planet.

2)Height from surface of planet.

3) Latitude of the object.

Hence it neither is a fundamental quantity nor an universal constant.

The variation of acceleration due to gravity with height can be mathematically written as:

$g(h)=g_{surface}(1-\frac{2h}{R_{planet}})$

where,

R is the radius of the planet

$g_{surface}$ is value of acceleration due to gravity at surface.

hence we can see that upon increase in altitude the value of 'g' goes on decreasing.