A planet with a mass one-half that of Earth has a radius that is 3 times that of Earth's radius. What is the gravitational field strength of the planet?

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asked Sep 25, 2022 190k views

1 Answer

Milosnkb · Answer 1 · 2022-09-30T11:09:52+0000

The gravitational acceleration of a planet is proportional to the planet's mass, and inversely proportional to square of the planet's radius.

So when you stand on the surface of this particular planet, you feel a force of gravity that is

(1/2) / (3²)

of the force that you feel on the surface of the Earth.

That's (1/18) as much as on Earth.

The acceleration of gravity there would be about 0.545 m/s².

This is about 12% less than the gravity on Pluto.