# Acceleration of free fall at different parts of Earth

“free fall is any motion of a body where gravity is the only acceleration acting upon it.” -Wikipedia

Question 1 - If an object is falling freely, will it follow the Earth’s rotation too? Or will the earth rotate whilst the object falls in a straight line (in its own reference frame). Or more simply put, does it have centripetal acceleration?

Question 2 - Assuming that the earth IS spherical AND has uniform density. Weight of the same mass is different at the Pole and at the equator; thus, the gravitational field strength, $$g$$ is different at those two places. Are these different values of $$g$$ also the same as acceleration of a body falling freely at those different places?

• Q2: if the earth is spherical and of uniform density, then the same mass has the same weight at the poles and at the equator. Why do you think they would be different? If you consider it as not spherical, but as an oblate spheroid, then the weight is slightly different. – NickD Aug 5 '19 at 3:39
• @NickD I believe it’s because at the equator there is centripetal acceleration while at the poles there isn’t (at least less than at the equator). According to Wikipedia, in order to have a net centripetal force at the equator, the magnitude of restoring force (of the spring of the balance) must be less than the force of gravity. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_force (Weight of Object at the poles and on the equator) – YSH Aug 5 '19 at 3:50