Final answer:
If we could shrink the earth while maintaining its current mass, a person's weight at the surface of Earth would decrease by a factor of 1/4.
Step-by-step explanation:
If we could shrink the earth while maintaining its current mass, a person's weight at the surface of Earth would decrease.
This is because weight is directly proportional to the gravitational force, and the gravitational force depends on the mass and distance between two objects.
When the mass of Earth reduces to one-third of its present mass, the gravitational force at the surface would reduce by a factor of (1/2)² = 1/4.
As a result, a person would weigh only one-fourth as much.
Your correct question is: Suppose that the Sun shrank in size but that its mass remained the same. What would happen to the orbit of the Earth?