Question

An astronaut weighs 160 Newtons on the surface of of the moon where the acceleration due to gravity is 1.6 m/s/s. What is his weight on EARTH, where the acceleration due to gravity is 10 m/s/s? Include units in your answer. *

Answer 1

The weight of an object with mass M, in a place with gravitational acceleration G, is:

W = M*G

We know that in the moon, with G = 1.6 m/s^2, the weight is 160N

Then we have the equation:

160N = (1.6 m/s^2)*M

With this, we can find the mass of the astronaut.

(160N)/(1.6 m/s^2) = M = 100kg.

Then in the Earth, where the acceleration is G = 10 m/s^2, the weight will be:

W = (10m/s^2)*100kg = 1000 N