Question

If a moon on jupiter has 1/8 the mass of the earth and 1/2 the earth's radius, what is the acceleration of gravity on the planet's surface? the acceleration of gravity on earth's surface is 10 m/s 2 .

Answer 1

The formula we can use here is:

g = G m / r^2

where g is gravity, G is gravitational constant, m is mass, and r is radius

Since G is constant, therefore we can equate two situations:

g1 m1 / r1^2 = g2 m2 / r2^2

(10 m/s^2) r1^2 / m1 = g2 * (1/2 r1)^2 / (1/8 m1)

g2 = 5 m/s^2