ESSE 3020 Lecture Notes - Tropical Year, Jean Richer, Solar Time
19 Mar 2013
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B) the graph for 1b has been shown below. Average height above earth"s surface y = 0. 2333x m k e c n a t s i. Colatitude, : b) according to the article given, the french astronomer jean richer measured the period of a pendulum at paris and at cayenne. Cayenne is almost at the equator, and paris is closer to the poles than the equator. The gravitational force in cayenne was found to be less than that at. Paris, and g. d. cassini found that the earth was a prolate ellipsoid. The current knowledge of the degree of flattening on earth says that the poles have a slightly smaller radius than the equator. Given this equation, the gravitational force at the poles and the equator can be calculated. The reason that the gravitational force in cayenne was found to be less than that at paris is because the gravitational force is inversely proportional to the radius squared (rowlinson, 2007).
