Question

An astronaut has a mass of 50.0 kg on earth. what is her mass on the moon, where gravity is 1 6 that on earth?

Answer 1

I believe the correct gravity on the moon is 1/6 of Earth. Take note there is a difference between 1 6 and 1/6.

HOWEVER, we should realize that the trick here is that the question asks about the MASS of the astronaut and not his weight. Mass is an inherent property of an object, it is unaffected by external factors such as gravity. What will change as the astronaut moves from Earth to the moon is his weight, which has the formula: weight = mass times gravity.

Therefore if he has a mass of 50 kg on Earth, then he will also have a mass of 50 kg on moon.