Question regarding calculating acceleration due to gravity on planet Mercury I was asked to calcul

syaoronsangelhwc17

syaoronsangelhwc17

Answered question

2022-05-10

Question regarding calculating acceleration due to gravity on planet Mercury
I was asked to calculate the acceleration due to gravity on planet Mercury, if the mas of Mercury is 2 , 99 × 10 22 k g and its radius is 2 , 42 × 10 3   k m. The mass of the object is 10 k g and the mass of Earth is 6 × 10 24 k g and the Radius of the Earth is 3 , 82 × 10 3 k m
This question rather puzzled me because I was not sure if my answer is correct or not but let me proceed :
F = m a = F g = G m 1 m 2 r 2
m 1 g = G m 1 m 2 r 2
(Note that m 2 = mass of mercury)
g = ( 6.673 × 10 11 m 2 k g 2 ) ( 2 , 99 × 10 22 k g ) ( 2 , 42 × 10 6   m ) 2
I compute my answer to be 0.34 m s 2
What really is confusing me is that when I look at my textbook, it shows me the gravitational acceleration due to gravity on mercury to be 3.59 m s 2
Can someone please explain to me what the answer that I am getting is giving me? My computation was marked correct in a test but I do not understand what this value is giving me.

Answer & Explanation

odvucimo1pp17

odvucimo1pp17

Beginner2022-05-11Added 23 answers

That value for the mass of Mercury is not correct.
The correct value is 3.3 × 10 23 kg.

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