GG 450 Lecture 2

GRAVITY BASICS
1/17/08
 GRAVITY

Gravity, the force that effects our lives more than any other
we think of as a constant, but changes in gravity are
significant and relatively easy to measure with modern
instruments. Since gravity changes with mass and distance
away from mass, it is simple to make models of gravity
anomalies, but in reality, most gravity anomalies can be fit
by a host of models (non-unique). Even so, gravity
measurements are often important supplements to other
geophysical measurements.

What IS gravity?? Mass attracts mass, but

how? Where’s the “spring”?
Gravity and electro-magnetic forces generate FORCE
FIELDS. All mass feels the effects of all other mass in
the universe, but, since the effect decreases as 1/r2,
where r is the distance between the masses, we can
often ignore all but the closest and largest masses.

Many forces are POINT FORCES, acting at a point, like

poking someone with a finger, force fields act uniformly
over space. THIS is why gravitational force can't be felt.

You don't feel gravity pulling

you down, you feel the earth
pushing you up.
Geophysical studies using these fields are called
the POTENTIAL FIELD METHODS, because we
can find a SCALAR value at all points in space
which tells us the potential effect on any body
caused by all masses considered.

The effect on any body can then be determined by

differentiation. Just as a body will not feel a
magnetic force if it has no susceptibility, a body
will feel no gravitational force if it has no mass.
More about potential later.
 Newton's Law of Gravity describes how the force of gravity
behaves:
m1m2 (6.1)
F G 2
r
where F is the gravitational force of attraction between the two
masses, G is the universal gravity constant (6.6732x10-11 nt•m2/kg2,
often called “Big G”), and r is the distance between the two masses.
How big is this force? What is the gravitational force between two
car-sized masses about 2 meters apart?

F=6.67x10-11 103 103/(22)= 1.67x10-5 nt = 1.67 dynes

This is a VERY small force. A dyne is the force of a mosquito

slamming into a wall at 1 cm/s. Yet, this is the force that holds the
universe together.
Some points of interest:
• The attraction of a SPHERE is the same as the
attraction of an equal mass located at the center
of the sphere.
• The gravitational attraction of a spherical shell
of mass is the same as the attraction of the same
mass concentrated at the center of the shell - as
long as the observation is made OUTSIDE the
shell.
• The gravitational attraction of a spherical shell
when the observation is made INSIDE the shell
is zero. Why?
Outside a spherical shell the
gravity is as though all the mass
of the shell were concentrated
at the middle.
But INSIDE the shell, the gravity
caused by the shell is zero
 Inside a spherical
shell, the
gravitational
attraction of the
nearest sections
are exactly
compensated for
by the attraction
of a larger area on
the opposite side
of the sphere.

What is the gravitational acceleration at the center of the earth?

Newton's 2nd law of motion, F=ma, combined with
the first law leads to:

Me m Me
F  ma  mg  G 2 , so g = G 2 (6.4)
R R
where g is the gravitational acceleration at the surface
of a planet of radius R and mass Me. This formula says
that ANY object near the surface of the planet will
accelerate towards the center of the planet at the rate g,
regardless of the mass of the object, so a feather will fall
at the same rate as a steel ball. right?
 If the earth is a sphere, we can calculate its mass if we
know its radius and the acceleration of gravity.
r ~ 6.378x106 m, or 6.378x108 cm
g=980 cm/s2

mM
F  mg  G
r2
M
gG 2
r
M  gr 2 /G  980cm /s2 (6.378x10 8 cm) 2 /(6.6732x10 8 dyne  cm 2 /g 2 )
M  5.97x10 27 g

Always track UNITS, to be sure your logic is correct.

An aside: We have thermometers to
tera- 1012 measure temperature,
giga- 109
barometers to measure pressure,
fathometers to measure depth,
mega- 106 seismometers to measure
kilo- 103 motion.
centi- 10-2 We have meters, centimeters,
milli- 10-3 millimeters, and so…
micro- 10-6 How do you pronounce
nano- 10-9
"kilometers"?
 MEASURING GRAVITY

As we saw above, it takes a LOT of mass to generate much gravity,

so we might expect that we need to be able to measure very small
changes in g to be able to detect even fairly large mass anomalies.
In fact, many surveys require resolutions of about 0.01 mGal to
image anomalies - or roughly 10-8 or 10 billionths of g!

One way to measure gravity is with a pendulum, where the period

of oscillation changes with g:

l l
T  2 (6.5)
g
where l is the length of the pendulum. If l is 1 meter, T~2 s.
What happens to T as g increases?

How well must we be able to measure T to resolve a change in g
of 1 mGal? About 1 microsecond. This is not easy, given the
other problems with pendulums, like friction.

Another way is to measure the time of fall of a body through a

known distance. Can be done, but takes great care, and the
equipment is not easily moved.

This is an “absolute” gravity

instrument that measures the
time of fall of a mass. Precise to
~3 microgals.
 GRAVITY METERS (GRAVIMETERS).

Nearly all gravity surveys use gravimeters to take

their data. A gravimeter is identical to a long-period
seismometer in most respects, the only difference being that
the goal is to measure the force needed to center the mass,
which is proportional to g.
This is called a Lacoste
suspension.The mass deflects
downwards when gravity increases.
The adjusting screw changes the
length of the spring until the mass is
in its centered position. Such
instruments are very portable but
only measure gravity RELATIVE to
some known value.
 The length of the spring
when the boom is
horizontal is proportional
to g.
The adjustment screw
changes the length of
the spring until the
capacitor output is
boom
centered. The
adjustment dial is then
read and converted to a
gravity reading in mgals.
What's a zero-length spring, and why is it
important?
A zero-length spring in a Lacoste suspension can
be adjusted so that the force need to change the
location of the mass does not depend on the length
of the spring. This means that there is no "restoring
force" and the displacement of the mass relative
to its zero displacement position depends only on
spring length. It will also have an infinite oscillation
period around its zero position.

This system is very

sensitive to changes in g.
Changing from dial reading to mGals.
Your data will have a dial reading like “2045.74”. On the
calibration sheet, look for a value of about 2050. You will likely
find a number like “0.725” mGals/division. Multiply your dial
reading by this number to get RELATIVE mGals.
We can correct our readings to true gravitational acceleration
by taking a measurement at a place where the absolute gravity
is known. We have such a location outside of the HIG building.
After changing the reading you get at HIG to mGals, subtract it
from the absolute gravity at HIG (given on the sheet for the HIG
gravity station). This will give you the constant to add to all your
readings to correct them to real values of observed gravity.
Gravimeters are extremely sensitive and can drift as the
spring(s) age and temperature changes. Thus they are
housed in a vacuum, and some (like ours) are kept at a
constant temperature. Some meters work only in a
limited range of elevation and latitudes, and must be pre-
set at the factory for the expected range. Geodetic meters
(like ours) have a range which allows them to be used all
over the world, sacrificing some precision.

Gravity measurements were a huge research field here in the 1960’s

when gravity readings were very important for calculating the
orbits of satellites. Now it's the other way around - satellite orbits
are known so precisely that orbit perturbations are used to obtain
changes in gravity around the world.
Instrument drift is caused by instrument problems. When an
instrument measures such small changes, problems are
not unusual.
How do you remove drift?
A) Is the difference between the two base station readings
different by a significant amount? If not - no drift.
B) Calculate the difference between the two base station
readings.
C) Calculate the amount of time between the two base
station readings.
D) Calculate a drift rate (dial reading per minute)
E) Add or subtract the appropriate drift correction from each
gravity reading.
GRAVITY ADJUSTMENTS

Above I said that gravitational force is caused only by changes in

mass and location relative to mass, but if this is true, why do we
need "adjustments"?

What factors might affect the reading we get on a gravimeter?

• change in mass distribution

- in the solar system: TIDES (what causes tides?)
- lateral changes in density:
+ in the rocks: (THIS IS USUALLY WHAT
WE ARE AFTER !)
+ topography:

• change in meter location:

- changes in distances from each mass:
+ elevation:
 as we get farther from the mass, gravity decreases.
- changes in ‘aspect’ (vertical component)
Gravity is measured in the VERTICAL direction.
Masses that are off to the side have no effect.

You place a gravity meter (red) at each of the points above,

what effect does the anomalous mass have on gravity?
 up
A

Because the force of gravity is proportional to the square of

the distance between two bodies, and since the gravimeter
is only sensitive to the vertical component of gravity, it can
be shown that 2-dimensional bodies like each element in the
cross section above will have the SAME EFFECT on the
gravity measured at the central point (A).
For example the effect of equal density bodies of the two
brown regions will contribute equally to the gravity measured
at A.
LATITUDE EFFECTS
Where we are on earth changes gravity considerably in
three ways:
1) Shape of the earth: The earth is actually an
“oblate spheroid”, , not a sphere. So you
are closer to the center (higher gravity) at the
poles than at the equator.
2) Because of the bulge at the equator, there is more
mass between you and the center of the earth
(increasing gravity) at the equator than at the
poles.
3) Earth rotation: The rotation lowers gravity at the
equator.
NET EFFECT OF ALL THREE: g~ 5,200 mGals less
at the equator than at the poles.
changes in acceleration:
speed of ship or plane: Eötvös effect
Why should speed change gravity?!
Think about it: what if you got in a very fast
vehicle that actually put you in orbit around the
earth at the surface - what would your
gravimeter read?

What way does the Eötvös effect act?

What radius would the earth have to have for the

gravity at the equator to be zero, assuming that
it’s mass and rotation rate don’t change?
Your ship is moving
in the directions
shown. What will the
Eötvös effect be in
each case?
 waves on ocean: "gravity" is far from constant as the ship moves
up and down. How can gravimeters possibly work at sea??
Is a gravity survey worth the effort?
How small a hole in the ground can be detected?
To answer this, let’s determine the gravity change expected
from a hollow sphere buried directly below our gravity meter.
A sphere with a density contrast of 3000 kg/m3 (3 gm/cm3)
needs to be ~30m in radius at a depth of 50 m before it
generates a 1 mGal anomaly! (next page)
Lesson: don’t use gravity to find buried pipes!
Gravity IS useful, however, as we shall see. In the islands we
see gravity anomalies as high as 300 mGals, so there is likely
a story to be told…
%% GG450 Gravity from a buried void
% g=(4/3)*pi*R^3*rho*G/z^2
% g= vertical acceleration caused by density difference rho,
% sphere radius R, centered z below the gravity meter
z=50; % meters
R=[1:5:45]; % meters, plot from 1 to 45 meter radius stepping 5 m
rho=3000; % kg/m^3
% 1 Gal=1 cm/sec^2; 1 m/s^2= 100Gals=100000 mGals
g=((4/3)*pi*R.^3*rho*6.67e-11/z^2)*100000;
plot(R,g)
xlabel('sphere radius, m');
ylabel('mGal');
title('buried sphere at 50 m depth, rho=3000');