Gravitational Acceleration Calculator
Calculate the acceleration experienced by an object due to gravity. The formula for gravitational acceleration is a = Gm/r2 where a is acceleration, G is the gravitational constant (6.6743 × 10-11 N*m2/kg2), m is the mass of the source of the gravitational field (often a star or planet), and r is the distance from the center of the gravitational field. To enter a number in scientific notation, use e-notation: enter the mass of Earth (5.9722 × 1024 kg) as 5.9722e24 kg. Results are rounded to five significant figures due to uncertainty in the value of the gravitational constant.
In this calculator, "mass" refers to the mass of the body providing the gravitational pull. For example, to find the acceleration experienced by a human on the surface of Earth, the value of mass should be the mass of the Earth (1 Earth mass), not the mass of the human. "Distance" refers to the distance between the two objects' centers of mass.
To find the force between two gravitationally bound objects, use the gravitational force calculator.
Gravity on Earth
The Earth is an oblate spheroid, a sphere that is slightly stretched at the equator. According to the World Geodetic System's 1984 model, the minimum (polar) and maximum (equatorial) radii of Earth are 6356.752 and 6378.137 kilometers, respectively. Given that the Earth's mass is 5.9722 × 1024 kilograms, the acceleration due to gravity at sea level ranges from 9.7983 to 9.8644 m/s2. The standard value of gravity on Earth's surface, represented by the lowercase letter g, is 9.80665 m/s2. In a vacuum, all objects - from feathers to bricks of lead - accelerate at the same rate. In an atmosphere such as Earth's, the downward acceleration of an object is affected by air resistance.
Statistics for the Sun and the planets and satellites of the solar system, including radius and mass, can be found here.