What shape would the Earth appear to have if it were just covered by water

[Ahsan Khan]

Hello all,

I was going through study of gravitation of earth. The book teachs that gravity of Earth is more near poles than at equator as Earth is not perfect sphere rather radius of Earth is lesser near poles larger at equator. A thought came in my mind that if the water at level goes also through a varying gravity due to non-unformity of Earth spherical shape, I am also thinking that water itself is a contributing thing for overall gravity of Earth afterall water is also part of earth. And this whole complex system makes me not to figure out the real distribution of gravity at different points on earth' surface(including the surface covered by water). Will appreciate if anybody through light on this issue also I would like to know if I could take enough water so that if uniformly placed on Earth surface it could cover whole Earth If Earth were sphere. Keeping the fact that Earth is not perfect sphere and gravity is not uniform everywhere how would my water would spread on earth. Neglect effect of Earth's rotation and revolution around sun.

Regards

 

[davenn]

I am also thinking that water itself is a contributing thing for overall gravity of Earth afterall water is also part of earth

yeah, but not much ... water density compared to rock is low

Will appreciate if anybody through light on this issue also I would like to know if I could take enough water so that if uniformly placed on Earth surface it could cover whole Earth If Earth were sphere

of course
and if the density was uniform through this spherical earth, then the depth of the water would also be uniform,
on a non-rotating/non-orbiting a sun and no moon, earth

 

[Ahsan Khan]

So how would then it shape appear, same as that of solid surface seen now or a perfect sphere or what can be predicted about a modified shape?

Regards

 

[A.T.]

So how would then it shape appear, same as that of solid surface seen now or a perfect sphere or what can be predicted about a modified shape?

Do you mean this?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoid

 

[Herman Trivilino]

The free fall acceleration at sea level on Earth's surface varies from about 9.78 m/s² at the equator to 9.83 m/s² at the poles. About 2/3 of this difference is due to Earth's rotation, the remaining 1/3 due to the fact that Earth's radius is larger at the equator than at the poles.

Earth's surface is mostly covered with water, so modelling it as a spinning spheroid completely covered with water is a reasonable approximation for many purposes!