Ask a New Question
Menu

While at a museum visit, Clara, Luis and Cami learned that the planet Venus is called Earth's sister. This is because it is similar in size to Earth. They also learned about different types of forces acting on the planets. At the end of the field trip, they were presented with an interactive table that compared the gravitational forces that were calculated between different objects and each of the two planets, Earth and Venus.

The museum guide asked the class, "What causes the differences in gravitational force of objects with the same mass on Venus and Earth?"

Clara, Luis and Cami each made a claim.

Clara: "Objects will feel a greater gravitational force on Earth, because Earth has more mass than Venus."

Luis: "Objects will feel the same gravitational force on Venus and Earth."

Caml: "Objects will feel a greater gravitational force on Venus, because Venus has less mass than Earth"

Use the chart shown below to gather data to support ONE of the claims.

Name of Planet

Venus

Earth

Mass of Planet

0.8 Earth mass

1 Earth mass

Gravitational Force between planet and IMAGINARY OBJECT with no mass (0kg)

ON

ON

Gravitational Force between planet and BACKPACK (10 kg)

80 N

98 N

Gravitational Force between planet and BRICK (15kg)

120 N

147 N

Gravitational Force between planet and BAG OF FLOUR (50kg)

400 N

490 N

Based on the information from the table whose claim do you support

A Clara
B Luis
C cami

1 answer

Based on the information provided in the chart, I would support A Clara's claim.

Clara stated, "Objects will feel a greater gravitational force on Earth, because Earth has more mass than Venus." The data shows that the gravitational forces acting on identical masses are greater on Earth compared to Venus. For example:

  • A 10 kg backpack experiences a gravitational force of 98 N on Earth and 80 N on Venus.
  • A 15 kg brick experiences a gravitational force of 147 N on Earth and 120 N on Venus.
  • A 50 kg bag of flour experiences a gravitational force of 490 N on Earth and 400 N on Venus.

All of these examples demonstrate that the gravitational force on Earth is consistently greater than that on Venus for the same mass, supporting Clara's assertion about the relationship between the mass of the planets and the gravitational force experienced by objects on their surfaces.