Question

At the surface of Jupiter's moon Io, the acceleration due to gravity is 1.81 m/s2m/s2 . A watermelon has a weight of 56.0 NN at the surface of the earth. In this problem, use 9.80 m/s2m/s2 for the acceleration due to gravity on earth.

Answer 1

Question:

At the surface of Jupiter’s moon Io, the acceleration due to gravity is g=1.81 m/s². A watermelon weighs 56.0 N at the surface of the earth.

(a) What is the watermelon’s mass on the earth’s surface?

(b) What would be its mass and weight on the surface of Io?

Answer:

The answer to the question is

(a) 5.71 kg

(b) 10.34 N

Explanation:

The Weight of an object is given by

Weight = Mass × Acceleration due to gravity

on Earth the weight of the watermelon = 56 N

Therefore

The mass of the watermelon = $\frac{Weight}{Acceleration.due . to . gravity}$ = 56/9.8 = 5.71 kg

(b) On the surface of lo, the weight of the watermelon will be

Weight = Mass × Acceleration due to gravity

Where acceleration due to gravity on lo = 1.81 m/s²

Therefore the weight of the watermelon on lo = 1.81×5.7

= 10.34 N

Answer 2

Answer: 5.71kg and 10.33N

Explanation:

Recall,

Weight =mass × g

Where w = 56.0 N , g = 9.8 m/s2

56= m × 9.8

M = 56/9.8

M = 5.71 kg

At the surface of the moon, the mass still remains 5.71kg because it is a fundamental quantity it does not change irrespective of position.

Weight at the moon surface will change as a result of change in gravity. Hence, weight = mg

Where g=1.81m/s2, m= 5.71

W = 5.71×1.81

W = 10.33N