Question

A particular planet has a moment of inertia of 9.74 × 1037 kg ⋅ m2 and a mass of 5.98 × 1024 kg. Based on these values, what is the planet's radius? Hint: Because planets are the shape of a sphere, the moment of inertia is I = (2/5)mr2.
A) 6.38 x 106 m
B) 2.55 × 106 m
C) 6.52 × 1012 m
D) 4.07 × 1013m

Answer 1

Answer:  A) $6.38(10)^{6} m$

Explanation:

The equation for the moment of inertia $I$ of a sphere is:

$I=\frac{2}{5}mr^{2}$ (1)

Where:

$I=9.74(10)^{37}kg m^{2}$ is the moment of inertia of the planet (assumed with the shape of a sphere)

$m=5.98(10)^{24}kg$ is the mass of the planet

$r$ is the radius of the planet

Isolating $r$ from (1):

$r=\sqrt{\frac{5I}{2m}}$ (2)

Solving:

$r=\sqrt{\frac{5(9.74(10)^{37}kg m^{2})}{2(5.98(10)^{24}kg)}}$ (3)

Finally:

$r=6381149.077m \approx 6.38(10)^{6} m$

Therefore, the correct option is A.