Question

The direction of the weight of an object is in _____ direction.
a. East
b. North
c. Upward
d. Gravitational Force

Answer 1

Hint: The weight of an object is defined as the gravitational force of attraction between two objects. Numerically, it is defined as mass times the acceleration due to gravity. It can be found by using newton’s law of universal gravitation.

Complete step by step answer:
On earth, we experience our weights downwards, which is in the direction of the earth itself.

The shape of the earth is spherical, thus for objects kept at different places on earth the downward, is in a different direction itself.
For a person living in the east, the down is towards the west, whereas for a person living in the north-pole, the down is in the southern direction.
In general, it is observed that these directions are all directed towards the center of the earth.

The gravitational force of attraction between two objects is calculated between their center of masses. Since the earth is spherical in shape, its center of mass is situated at the core. This explains why any object present on the surface of earth or above it is attracted towards it. Thus, it can be concluded that the weight of an object always acts in the direction of the gravitational force.

Hence, the correct answer is option (D).

Note: The directions like north-south, east-west, left-right, up-down are all relative directions. Which means they have a different value if observed from a different perspective. Thus it is incorrect to say if the gravity acts in any of these directions, the direction of gravity should be between the center of mass of two objects, which could be in any of these directions.