Question

The gravitational pull of the Moon is not as great as that on Earth. In fact, if a person checks their weight on the Moon, it will be only 16
of their weight on Earth.

A graph is shown in the xy-plane, and is labeled as Weight on Earth Versus Weight on Moon. The x-axis is labeled as Weight on Earth left parenthesis pounds right parenthesis, and the y-axis is labeled as Weight on Moon left parenthesis pounds right parenthesis. The values on the x-axis range from 0 to 180 in increments of 20, and the values on the y-axis range from 0 to 32 in increments of 4. A line starts from the origin, goes up, and passes through (60, 10).

A. If a person weighs 12 pounds on the Moon, how much does the person weigh on Earth? Explain your answer.
B. If a person weighs 126 pounds on Earth, how much does the person weight on the Moon? Explain your answer.

Answer 1

A. If a person weighs 12 pounds on the Moon, using the graph, we can read the value on the y-axis which corresponds to 12 pounds on the Moon. The line passing through (60,10) gives us the weight on Earth for that corresponding value on the y-axis which is approximately 96 pounds. So, the person weighs 96 pounds on Earth if they weigh 12 pounds on the Moon.

B. If a person weighs 126 pounds on Earth, we can locate 126 pounds on the x-axis and find the corresponding value on the line passing through (60,10). From the graph, we can see that the line intersects the x-axis at approximately 140 pounds on Earth. Therefore, the person would weigh approximately 16 pounds on the Moon if they weigh 126 pounds on Earth.