The Slippery Slope of Physics: Apparent Weight and a Perfectly Icy Earth

Earth's rotation causes slight variations in apparent weight based on location. At the North Pole, you feel heaviest due to gravity alone. At the equator, centripetal acceleration from the planet's rotation reduces your apparent weight by about 0.3%. An 80kg person would measure roughly 0.24kg lighter at the equator compared to the poles. This difference arises because the ground's normal force at the equator must partly provide the centripetal acceleration for Earth's rotation.