Question

A 2.0 kg mass weighs 10 Newtons on planet X. what is the acceleration due to gravity on planet X? Show the work.

Answer 1

Answer: The gravitational acceleration on planet X is 5 N/kg

On Earth (with the gravitational accelartion g_E) the mass of 2kg will correspond to

$F_E = m\cdot g_E = 2.0 \mbox{kg}\cdot 9.8 \frac{N}{kg} = 19.6 N$

On planet X we are told the same measure is only 10N. Since there is a proportional relationship between g and F, we can calculate g_X:

$\frac{F_E}{g_E}=\frac{F_X}{g_X} \implies\\g_x = \frac{g_E\cdot F_X}{F_E}=\frac{9.8 N/kg \cdot 10 N }{19.6N}=5 \frac{N}{kg}$