Carol Grover, age 11, of Toronto, Ontario, for her question;

Is it true you weigh more at the poles than at the equator?

This is quite true. Everyone weighs slightly more at the poles than at the equator, So does a bog of coal or anything else. This is one of the tricks of gravity. We learn that everything in the world is held by the pull of earth's gravity. This pull, or attraction, of earths gravity gives every object its weight. The attraction exerted on one pound of sugar equals a weight of one pound.

The laws of gravitation have been working since the universe began. But no one knew it until Isaac Newton did some detective work about 300 yeals ago, He discovered why an apple fell from a tree to the ground, why all things fall down and not up when dropped. What0s more, he figured out how the great laws of gravitation operate on everything in the universe.

The force of gravitation is a built‑in part of every object, large or small. It is there in your desk, the moon, the sun and in every speck of dust. But not in equal amounts. The more mass an object has, the greater its force of gravitation. The big earth pulls harder than the smaller moon. The moon cannot escape it and float off on its own. But the earth's stronger pull does not cancel out the moons weaker pull. The moon gulls back and makes our tides.

The massive earth hugs us to its surface and grabs everything we drop, But every little object pulls back at the earth with its own weaker force. They also pull at each other. There is a pull of gravity between you and ,your desk. True, the attraction is so slight that the calculations would fill a page,

Those calculations depend on mass and distance. For the force of gravitation lessens with distance. The distance is measured from the exact center of each object. Earths center of gravity is in the exact middle of the big, solid ball. The force is stronger, the closer you get to the center of gravity. It is weaker the farther you get from this point.