A vertical tunnel is bored straight down into Earth to a depth of .

PHYSICS · Multi-part · A Level · Physics · Fields and their consequences · Fields and their consequences

Problem

A vertical tunnel is bored straight down into Earth to a depth of

800\,\text{km}

. (i) Calculate the value of acceleration due to gravity at the bottom of the tunnel. Take

g = 9.8\,\text{m s}^{-2}

and

R = 6400\,\text{km}

. (ii) Determine the altitude above Earth’s surface at which the acceleration due to gravity has the same value as that obtained in part (i).