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The Equatorial Weight-loss Program

You've tried all sorts of diets, you work out regularly, and you avoid fatty foods, yet still nothing seems to take off those extra pounds.

Well, despair no longer, here comes the Moment of Science Equatorial Weight Loss Program. Sounds impressive, doesn't it? Best of all, there's no restriction on what you can eat, and no exercise required. All you have to do is move to the equator and you will magically lose...well, several ounces!

Okay, so a few ounces here or there isn't much of a change, which is why travelers never notice it. It is true though, that you weigh less or more depending on where you stand on earth's surface. You are heaviest at the north and south pole, and lightest at the equator. This effect, however, has nothing to do with your body mass. It's because the earth is spinning.

Imagine yourself standing at the north pole. Here the earth's rotation will only cause you to turn around and around, and you experience the full force of gravity without any interference. Now put yourself halfway to the equator. Instead of just turning around in one spot, you are now moving in a big circle. That means gravity has to battle the planet's tendency to fling you off the way a high-speed merry-go-round would.

At the equator, the circle you are making is at its largest, and your tendency to fly off into space at its greatest. The stalemate between earth's gravity pulling you down, and earth's spin flinging you off results in your weighing slightly less.

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