• Question: would you weigh less if the planet you were on was smaller or bigger?

    Asked by Flo to Maggie, Ry, Scott on 16 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Ry Cutter

      Ry Cutter answered on 16 Nov 2017:


      you weigh less if the planet is smaller. Smaller means less mass, which means less gravity, which makes you weigh less!

    • Photo: Maggie Lieu

      Maggie Lieu answered on 16 Nov 2017:


      Weight is equal to mass times gravity. Your mass is constant (unless you eat lots!) so your weight only changes with the gravity of the planet you are on. The stronger the gravity the more you would weigh and the less the gravity the less you would weigh.
      BUT a bigger planet does not always have more gravity. The gravity of a planet depends on its mass and not on its size. So a planet made of feathers would have less gravity than a planet of the same size but made of metal. Even though the planets are the same size, the planet made of metal would have more gravity because it would have more mass

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