TECHNICAL NOTES 661

Nomograph for earth acceleration calculation

ADAM ZANKER*

The knowledge of the exact value of the earth acceleration is sometimes an important factor in
an engineer’s work. The value of earth acceleration is not constant for various regions. First,
because of the irregular shape of the earth, the value of the gravity is dependent on the geo-
graphical latitude. Second, the earth acceleration depends on the altitude above sea level and

- 976 0

- 9765

- 9770

-9780

,- 978 5

33
t 981.0

65 982 0
IO00

70
982 5
75 XI0
80 983 0
:5
0

Fig. 1. Nomograph for the calculation of earth acceleration

* Kiriat-Jam G, P.O. Box 11, Israel.

668 TECHNICAL NOTES

decreases proportionally with increasing altitude. The relationship between the earth accelera-
tion and geographical latitude is given by the following equation
go = 978~030(1+0405 302 sin2 4 + 0400 007 sin2 24) . . . . (1)
where
go is the earth acceleration at sea level at the various geographical latitudes, cm/s2
and + is the geographical latitude, degrees.
The relationship between the earth acceleration and the altitude above sea level is given by
the following equation
g = go-04003086h . . . . . . . _ (2)
where
g is the earth acceleration at the various altitudes is the earth acceleration, cm/s2
and h is the altitude above sea level, m.

THE NOMOGRAPH
It is possible to construct a nomograph, which connects equations (1) and (2) and enables the
simultaneous solution of them. To construct the nomograph, the left hand scale is graduated
in degrees of the geographical latitude and the right hand scale is graduated in metres of the
altitude above sea level.
In order to find the required earth acceleration, if a ruler is placed against the known values
of h and 4 on both side scales the final result can be read-off on the central g scale.
An example is shown in Fig. 1. The earth acceleration at 35” latitude and 1200 m above
sea level is 979.36 cm/?.