Question

If you were to triple the size of the Earth (R = 3R⊕) and double the mass of the Earth (M = 2M⊕), how much would it change the gravity on the Earth (Fg = XFg⊕)?

Answer 1

Answer:

Decreased by a factor of 4.5

Explanation:

"We have Newton formula for attraction force between 2 objects with mass and a distance between them:

$F_G = G\frac{M_1M_2}{R^2}$

where $G =6.67408 × 10^{-11} m^3/kgs^2$ is the gravitational constant on Earth. $M_1, M_2$ are the masses of the object and Earth itself. and R distance between, or the Earth radius.

So when R is tripled and mass is doubled, we have the following ratio of the new gravity over the old ones:

$\frac{F_G}{f_g} = \frac{G\frac{M_1M_2}{R^2}}{G\frac{M_1m_2}{r^2}}$

$\frac{F_G}{f_g} = \frac{\frac{M_2}{R^2}}{\frac{m_2}{r^2}}$

$\frac{F_G}{f_g} = \frac{M_2}{R^2}\frac{r^2}{m_2}$

$\frac{F_G}{f_g} = \frac{M_2}{m_2}(\frac{r}{R})^2$

Since $M_2 = 2m_2$ and $r = R/3$

$\frac{F_G}{f_g} = \frac{2}{3^2} = 2/9 = 1/4.5$

So gravity would have been decreased by a factor of 4.5