Q19 of 49 Page 10

An astronaut on the moon measures the acceleration due to gravity and finds it to be 1.67 ms-2. He knows that the earth is about 80 times more massive than the moon. What is his estimate of the ratio of the radius of the earth to that of the moon?

The accelerations due to gravity on earth and moon are given by

Therefore
= = 3.69.

More from this chapter

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17 What happens to the plants in the absence of gravity? 18 The acceleration due to gravity at the surface of the moon is 1.67 ms-2. If the radius of the moon is 1.74 × 106 m, find the mass of the moon. Given G = 6.67 × 10-11 Nm2 kg-2. 20 Why is the gravitational force of attraction between two bodies of ordinary mass not noticeable in everyday life? 1

State the universal law of gravitation.