Question

Plz help,

Prove this statement to be true or false: You weigh less on a planet the closer it is to the Sun. If false, what factor would make you weigh less on a planet? Explain by using the formula: Fg*=mg

Thank you.​

Answer 1

Answer: False, the factors that can affect the weight are the mass of the planet and the radius of the planet.

Step-by-step explanation:

First, we can write the weight as:

W = m*g

where m is the mass and g is the gravitational acceleration.

For example. g in the Earth is 9.8m/s^2, and g on Mars is 3.71 m/s^2, so you will weight more in Earth than on Mars, and Earth is closer to the Sun than Mars, so the statement is false.

Now, the gravitational acceleration depends primarily on the mass of the planet, this is because the gravitational force between two objects can be written as:

F = G*M*m/r^2

Where M is the mass of the planet, and m is your mass and r is the distance between you and the planet, if you are in the surface, r is the radius of the planet.

Here we can see that planets with more mass and smaller radius (more density) have the strongest gravitational force on any object near them.