Which of these objects would have greater mass, object A that weighs 50N on earth or object B with a weight of 50N on the moon?

2 Answers
Nathan L.
Jul 28, 2017

Object B (The object on the Moon)

Explanation:

We're asked to find which of two objects has a greater mass, given that they have the same weight on two different celestial bodies.

Recall Newton's second law, which states

#sumvecF = mveca#

We need to know the magnitude of the acceleration #g# for each body. We know earth's is #9.81# #"m/s"^2#, and the Moon's is #1.624# #"m/s"^2# (from Internet or any resource).

Earth:

We have

  • #sumF = 50# #"N"# (weight)

  • #a = 9.81# #"m/s"^2#

Thus,

#m = (sumF)/a = color(red)(5.10# #color(red)("g"#

Moon:

We have

  • #sumF = 50# #"N"# (weight)

  • #a = 1.624# #"m/s"^2#

So

#m = (sumF)/a = color(blue)(30.8# #color(blue)("g"#

Thus, object #sfcolor(blue)("B"# has the greater mass.

t0hierry
Jul 29, 2017

B

Explanation:

Intuitively, since gravity on the moon is less than that on Earth, it takes more mass on the moon to produce the same force.

Related questions
Impact of this question
13176 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License