The acceleration due to gravity on Mercury is 3.7 m/s2, which is about six times the acceleration due to gravity on Pluto. Which
2 answers:
An object weighs about one-sixth as much but has the same mass on Pluto as on Mercury.
Explanation:
- The mass of an object is an intrinsed property of the object, and it tells the "amount of matter" inside the object. It does not depend on the location of the object.
- The weight of an object is equal to the force of gravity exerted by the planet on the object, and its magnitude is given by
(1)
where m is the object's mass and g is the gravitational acceleration on the planet.
From these two definitions, we clearly see that:
- the mass of an object is the same on Mars and on Pluto
- the weight of an object on Pluto is 1/6 of its weight on Mars, because the value of g on Pluto is 1/6 of the value of g on Mars, so in the formula (1) we get a factor 1/6 that is the reason behind the difference in weight.
You might be interested in