gravitational field strength

Strength of the Earth's gravitational field at a particular point. It is defined as the gravitational force in newtons that acts on a mass of one kilogram. The value of g on the Earth's surface is taken to be 9.806 N kg−1.

The symbol g is also used to represent the acceleration of a freely falling object in the Earth's gravitational field. Near the Earth's surface and in the absence of friction due to the air, all objects fall with an acceleration of 9.8 m s−2/32 ft s−2.