Gravity Around the World
Gravity is not the same everywhere on Earth. Click any location to calculate local g, see how your weight changes, and compare gravity across the solar system.
Click to Measure Gravity
Drag to rotate, click any point to calculate local g
Parameters
Click the Globe
Select any location on Earth to see local gravitational acceleration and how your weight compares across the solar system.
Why Does Gravity Vary?
Earth's Oblateness
Earth bulges at the equator, so equatorial points are ~21 km farther from Earth's center than the poles. Greater distance means weaker gravity.
Centrifugal Effect
Earth's rotation creates an outward centrifugal force. At the equator this reduces felt gravity by about 0.034 m/s2. The effect is zero at the poles.
Altitude Effect
Gravity decreases with altitude following an inverse-square law. At the ISS orbit (400 km), gravity is still about 88% of surface strength.
WGS84 Normal Gravity Formula
This tool uses the WGS84 reference ellipsoid formula, which accounts for both Earth's shape and rotation:
- g(0°) = 9.7803 m/s² at the equator
- g(90°) = 9.8322 m/s² at the poles
- Difference of about 0.5% across latitudes
Comparing Gravity Across Worlds
Surface gravity depends on both mass and radius. Large but low-density planets can have similar gravity to smaller, denser ones.
- Saturn (10.44 m/s²) is close to Earth despite being much larger
- Jupiter (24.79 m/s²) is about 2.5 times Earth's gravity
- The Sun's surface gravity is 28 times stronger than Earth's