1. Tardigrade
  2. Question
  3. Physics
  4. At what altitude (h) above the earths surface would the acceleration due to gravity be one fourth of its value at the earths surface? where, R is the radius of the earth.

Question Error Report

Thank you for reporting, we will resolve it shortly

Back to Question

Q. At what altitude $(h)$ above the earths surface would the acceleration due to gravity be one fourth of its value at the earths surface?
where, $R$ is the radius of the earth.

Delhi UMET/DPMTDelhi UMET/DPMT 2011Gravitation

Solution:

Given, $g'=\frac{g}{4}$
We know that is acceleration due to gravity at height $h$ from the surface of the earth
$g'=g\left[\frac{R}{R +h}\right]^{2}$
Hence $\frac{g}{4}=g\left[\frac{R}{R+ h}\right]^{2}$
$\left(\therefore g'=\frac{g}{4}\right)$
$\frac{R}{R +h}=\frac{1}{2}$
$R + h =2 R$
$h = R$