Question

Where is the intensity of the gravitational field of the earth maximum?
A. Centre of earth
B. Equator
C. Poles
D. Same everywhere

Answer 1

Hint: The intensity of the gravitational field of the earth can be determined from the shape of the Earth. Since, the magnetic field depends upon the distance between the objects, the shape of the earth plays a very important role in determining the intensity of the magnetic field.

Complete step by step answer:
 We know that the structure of the earth is an oblate spheroid. This signifies that the shape of the Earth is such that it has a bulge in the middle, that is in the equatorial region. The bulging centre signifies that the North and South poles are a little closer to the centre of gravity than they should have if earth was spherical in shape. So, we can say that at the poles present on the Earth’s surface, the intensity of the gravitational field is maximum.
Therefore, the correct answer is Option C.
Note: We can say that the gravitational force or as we can say gravity gets stronger, on moving towards a massive object. But since the mass of the object which is moving towards the centre of the massive object is very less as compared to the massive object, it should be taken into consideration. This is exactly why the gravitational field at the centre of the earth is zero.
By the gravitational field intensity of the earth we mean that we can calculate it at any point by knowing the negative of the gradient of the gravitational potential. This is restricted to a a certain point at a time.