Question

The largest moon of Mars, Phobos, has an incredibly lower mass and radius than its host planet. This results in Phobos having a gravitational field that is only 0.15% as strong as that of Mars. If an astronaut traveled from Phobos to Mars, which of the following would be true about their weight and mass?

a. Both the mass and weight of the astronaut will increase.
b. Both the mass and weight of the astronaut will not change.
c. The mass of the astronaut will remain unchanged, but the weight will increase.

Answer 1

The mass of an astronaut remains the same when traveling from Phobos to Mars, but their weight increases due to the higher gravitational force of the planet Mars compared to Phobos.

Step-by-step explanation:

When an astronaut travels from Phobos to Mars, c. The mass of the astronaut will remain unchanged, but the weight will increase is the correct option. This is because while mass is a measure of the amount of matter in an object and remains constant regardless of its location, weight is the force exerted on that mass by gravity. As Phobos' gravitational field is much weaker than that of Mars, an astronaut's weight will increase when they travel to Mars due to the stronger gravitational pull of the planet.