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Writer's pictureMoiya McTier

Astronomy Fun Fact #53

Do you remember learning in high school physics that g=9.8 m/s^2?


That number is the gravitational acceleration, which a lot of people confuse with gravitational force, but they're actually different things.


Gravitational acceleration is (pretty much) the same everywhere on Earth because it depends on the mass of the planet and how far away we are from it.


But the force of gravity also depends on your mass. The gravitational force that you experience from Earth is your weight! And because of Newton's law about equal and opposite reactions, that's also the amount of force you're using to pull the Earth towards you!

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