Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: little gee and its sign



But I think that the greater difficulty in this case is the reference to
g,
a gravitational variable, as acceleration. It is not. The force mg may
perhaps lead to acceleration -- or it may not -- but "g" is not
acceleration in any case.

I'm not sure I follow your desire to calling g a "gravitational variable".
The way I see it, I perform a number of experiments of objects in free fall
near the earth, and I measure their accelerations. If I can eliminate
and/or account for air, I find that all the objects fall with an
acceleration of 9.8 m/s^2. For convenience I give that acceleration a
symbol, g, and a name, "acceleration due to gravity". What else it that
but an acceleration?

My complaint would be the "due to gravity" part - it is not a gravitational
variable. This 9.8 m/s^2 is primarily due to gravity, but it is certainly
not just GM/r^2. Traditionally (and in my experimental definition above),
g includes effects of the earth's rotation. Perhaps we could call it the
"local free fall acceleration".

Tim Folkerts