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AP Physics B: Newtonian Mechanics Section Drill 2, problem 1. What is the acceleration due to gravity for objects dropped near the surface of Europa?
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AP Physics B: Newtonian Mechanics Section Drill 2, problem 1. What is the acceleration due to gravity for objects dropped near the surface of Europa?
Transcript
- 00:03
Here's your shmoop du jour... Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter, has a
- 00:07
mass that is about one tenth that of Earth and a radius that is about one quarter of Earth's.
- 00:13
In terms of g, as measured on Earth, what is the acceleration due to gravity for objects
- 00:22
dropped near the surface of Europa? Here are the possible answers...
- 00:29
Ok, what is this question asking?
Full Transcript
- 00:31
Well, it's not asking about the gravitational pull in Europe, for starters.
- 00:34
Even if some of their hair-dos over there do seem to defy gravity... they're pretty
- 00:38
much abiding by the same laws of physics that we do in the States.
- 00:41
Instead, the focus is on Europa, one of Jupiter's moons.
- 00:44
To solve this problem, we use Newton's law of gravitation:
- 00:48
For our equation, we use
- 00:50
m1g... the force of gravity on earth... is equal to big G, the gravitational constant,
- 00:56
times m1 times m2 divided by r squared.
- 01:04
In this equation, m represents the mass of an object,
- 01:08
and r is the distance between the two objects.
- 01:12
We can divide the m1... your mass...
- 01:16
out of both sides...
- 01:18
...and here's what we get: the acceleration of gravity on earth is equal
- 01:23
to the Gravitational constant...
- 01:25
...multiplied by the mass of the Earth all over the radius squared.
- 01:31
We can write this same equation for Europa.
- 01:36
Now, by substituting the values for Europa we can get the acceleration of gravity on that moon.
- 01:41
The mass for Europa is one tenth that of Earth, so we multiply mEarth by .1.
- 01:48
The distance between the center of Europa and whatever this slippery object is that
- 01:51
we've dropped... is one fourth of Earth, so we multiply r by .25.
- 01:57
We have to make sure we multiply R by .25 before we square it.
- 02:01
Simplifying what we have, we get that the gravity on Europa is equal to .1 over .25
- 02:07
squared or 1.6 times the gravity of Earth or 1.6 times stronger.
- 02:13
Answer (E).
- 02:15
Maybe it's time for someone to invest in a utility belt...
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