Gravity on the Earth Vs. The Moon

The gravity near the surface of the Moon is about one-sixth that of the gravity near the surface of the Earth.

An object is dropped from a height of 32 feet in a vacuum on the Earth's surface and hits level ground.
At some later time on a space mission, that same object is dropped from a height of 32 feet from the Moon's surface and hits the Moon's level surface.

The object will take about six times as long to reach the Moon's surface as it will take to reach the Earth's surface.

True. False.

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2 solutions

Linda Slovik
Nov 5, 2018

We can let h stand in for 32 feet.

h = (1/2)gt^2

t = sqrt(2h/g)

Let T = time for the object on Earth and t = time for the object on the Moon

Let G = Earth's relative gravity "pull" of 1

Let g = the Moon's relative gravity "pull" of 1/6

t/T = [sqrt(2h/g)]/[sqrt{2h/G]

t/T = [sqrt(1/g)]/[sqrt(1/G]

t/T = sqrt(G/g)

t/T = sqrt(6)

t/T ~ 2.45

The object will take about 2.45 times as long to reach the Moon's surface as it will take to reach the Earth's surface.

Aaghaz Mahajan
Nov 5, 2018

The correct answer is that the object will take Root 6 times the time taken for it to fall on earth.......!!!

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