[chris (OP)]

I was asked this question and I wonder whether anyone has any figures they can put to it please?

Chris

[lightarrow]

I was asked this question and I wonder whether anyone has any figures they can put to it please?

Chris

The answer to the question is yes, but not only because of centrifugal force, because of pole buckling too.
I found this pictures: 9.78 m/s² at the Equator and 9.83 m/s² at the poles.

[syhprum]

May I suggest that if you are buying anything real expensive like polonium 206 or antimatter or vanilla essence you have it weighed out with a scale calibrated against a standard mass with all this variation in 'G' that we have discussed

[lyner]

Yes; a balance rather than a spring.

[Bored chemist]

Decent analytical balances include test masses to calibrate themselves to avoid this problem. Typically they will weigh 100g to +/- 0.00001g so moving them a few floors up or down the building will influence the calibration.