Globe-Trotting Gnome: Images of a Gravity Experiment

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Kern at the South Pole

A garden gnome at the South Pole in Antarctica

(Image credit: The Gnome Experiment)

Gravity, the force that draws objects together in proportion to their mass, varies depending on where you're standing on Earth. That's because our planet is not a perfect sphere with uniform density. With varying gravity, an object's weight also changes. Now scientists are charting these gravitational discrepancies with a jet-setting gnome whose weight is recorded at various spots across the globe.

Reaching the South Pole

Here, the gnome is standing at the Antarctic South Pole. Turns out, the gnome (and you) weighs more at the South Pole than at the equator.

(Image credit: gnomeexperiment.com)

Here, the gnome is standing at the Antarctic South Pole. Turns out, the gnome (and you) weighs more at the South Pole than at the equator.

South Pole Telescope

Kern the gnome in front of the South Pole Telescope (SPT), located at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica.

(Image credit: gnomeexperiment.com)

Kern the gnome in front of the South Pole Telescope (SPT), located at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica.

Off to Japan

Kern the gnome in Japan.

(Image credit: gnomeexperiment.com)

Kern the gnome in Japan.

Gnome in Mexico

Garden gnome by a monument in Mexico City.

(Image credit: The Gnome Experiment)

The experiment is making Kern well-traveled indeed. Here, the gnome in Mexico City.

German Gnome in America

A gnome on a scale by the Golden Gate Bridge.

(Image credit: The Gnome Experiment)

Kern the gnome gets weighed by the Golden Gate Bridge in California.

South Pole Gnome

Kern the gnome at the south pole.

(Image credit: The Gnome Experiment)

Kern with his human host, Marie McLane, at the geographic South Pole.

South Pole or Bust

Kern the gnome at the south pole.

(Image credit: The Gnome Experiment)

Kern weighed his highest weight at the South Pole.

Live Science Staff
Live Science Staff
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