Question

After landing on a distant exoplanet as a member of the Space Force Spec Ops Team one of your first tasks is to measure the gravity on the surface of the planet. Your weight feels heavier than on Earth, but that might just be the 80 kg spacesuit you are wearing. You pull out a 45.93 gram golf ball and drop it from eye level while recording the time it takes to hit the ground. You record 0.44 seconds for it to hit the ground. You have previously measured your eye level height to be 146 cm in preparation of this task. Using this information calculate the gravity on this new planet.

Answer 1

Answer:

The acceleration due to gravity of the planet is approximately 15.083 m/s²

Explanation:

The given information are;

The mass of the golf ball = 45.93 gram

The time it takes the golf ball to hit the ground 0.44 seconds

The height, s, from which the golf ball is dropped = 146 cm = 1.46 m  

The equation of motion for the golf ball can be expressed as follows;

s = u·t + 1/2·a·t²

Where;

s = 1.46 m

u = The initial velocity of the golf ball = 0 m/s

a = The acceleration due to gravity of the planet

t = The time it takes the golf ball to hit the ground = 0.44 seconds

By substituting, we have;

1.46 = 0 × 0.44 + 1/2 × a × 0.44²

a = 1.46/(1/2 × 0.44²) ≈ 15.083 m/s²

The acceleration due to gravity of the planet = a ≈ 15.083 m/s².