acceleration of gravity

American  

noun

Physics.

1. the acceleration of a falling body in the earth's gravitational field, inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the body to the center of the earth, and varying somewhat with latitude: approximately 32 feet (9.8 meters) per second per second. g

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acceleration of gravity Scientific  

1. The acceleration of a body falling freely under the influence of the Earth's gravitational pull at sea level. It is approximately equal to 9.806 m (32.16 ft) per second per second, though its measured value varies slightly with latitude and longitude.

2. Also called acceleration of free fall

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Etymology

Origin of acceleration of gravity

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

acceleration of gravity

If, however, the range is large, the Earth curves away below the projectile and acceleration of gravity changes direction along the path.

From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015

Projectile motion is the motion of an object thrown or projected into the air, subject to only the acceleration of gravity.

From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015

GAL: “Get a life” and a galileo, a unit used measuring local variations in the acceleration of gravity: For some reason, whenever I start talking about the latter, I hear the former.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 21, 2015

In fact, if the acceleration is equal to the acceleration of gravity on the surface of the earth, the passengers may well believe that their ship is still standing on its launching pad.

From Scientific American ● Mar. 4, 2011

Knowing the value of the acceleration of gravity, and Galileo's laws of descent, we possess simple and compendious directions for reproducing in thought all possible motions of falling bodies.

From Popular scientific lectures by Mach, Ernst