Using 6400 km as the radius of Earth, calculate how high above Earth’s surface you would have to be in order to weigh 1/16th of

Question

Colt1911 [192]

3 years ago

5

Using 6400 km as the radius of Earth, calculate how high above Earth’s surface you would have to be in order to weigh 1/16th of

your current weight. Show all work leading to your answer OR describe your solution using 3 -4 complete sentences.

Physics

1 answer:

FrozenT [24] · Answer 1 · 2022-03-02T14:57:08+03:00

Gravity obeys the inverse square law. At 6400 km above the center of the Earth (Earth's surface) you weigh x. Twice that reduces your weight to 1/4th. Four times that height reduces your weight to 1/16th. 4 times 6400 km is 25,600 km. But that is above the center of the earth, and the question requests the height above the surface, so we deduct 6400 km to arrive at our final answer: 19,200 km.

Incidentally, it doesn't exactly work the opposite way. At the center of the Earth the mass would be equally distributed around you, and you would therefore be weightless.