Need help in understanding accelaration due to gravity I've been having some trouble in understand

dresu9dnjn

dresu9dnjn

Answered question

2022-05-18

Need help in understanding accelaration due to gravity
I've been having some trouble in understanding acceleration due to gravity.
On earth, the acceleration due to gravity is an average of 9.80 m / s 2 . The mass of the earth is approximately 5.972 × 10 24 k g. The acceleration due to gravity on the surface of the sun is 273.7 m / s 2 and its mass is about 1.989 × 10 30
So
Mass of Sun Accelaration at Sun surface = Mass of Earth Accelaration at Earth surface
Why don't the above numbers equal each other? Is it because I am doing mass divided by acceleration?

Answer & Explanation

Gerardo Barry

Gerardo Barry

Beginner2022-05-19Added 17 answers

The gravitational force is given by F g = G M m r 2 where symbols have their usual meaning. And the acceleration due to gravity at the surface of a body (uniform and spherical) is a g = G M R 2 , where R is the radius of the body.
What you are doing is just dividing M by a g which gives you M R 2 G M = R 2 G . So do you see the problem? Saying that M a g is same for Sun and Earth would imply that their radii are equal, which is clearly not true.

Do you have a similar question?

Recalculate according to your conditions!

New Questions in Force, Motion and Energy

Ask your question.
Get an expert answer.

Let our experts help you. Answer in as fast as 15 minutes.

Didn't find what you were looking for?