what are the effects of earths rotation on gravitational force?
Answer Hello jay, A pebble sitting on the surface of the earth is moving in a circle as the earth rotates on its axis. (Ignore the revolution around the sun.) It requires a certain amount of centripetal force, a force directed toward the center of the earth, in order to continue on its circular path. Because without centripetal force, it would fly off in a straight line, tangential to the globe. This is according to Newton’s 1st Law. Newton’s 1st says that an object in motion tends to stay in motion, in a straight line, at the same speed, unless acted on by some outside force. If the velocity vector of an object changes, either in magnitude or direction, it experienced acceleration. And from Newton’s 2nd, if a mass is accelerated, a net force must have been applied to it. So Newton’s 1st and 2nd say that our pebble must have had a net force on it, and since the path is a circle, we call this net force a centripetal force. The value of the centripetal force for the pebble is Fc = m*v^2/
