Question
Would a person's weight be the same or different on Mars as it on Earth? What his/ her mass?
Answers
GPT-4o mini
A person's weight on Mars would be different from their weight on Earth, but their mass would remain the same.
Weight is the force exerted by gravity on an object and depends on both the mass of the object and the gravitational acceleration at the location where the object is. The formula for weight is:
\[ \text{Weight} = \text{Mass} \times \text{Gravitational acceleration} \]
On Earth, the average gravitational acceleration is about \(9.81 \, \text{m/s}^2\), while on Mars it is approximately \(3.71 \, \text{m/s}^2\).
To illustrate this with an example, if a person has a mass of 70 kg:
- Their weight on Earth would be:
\[ \text{Weight on Earth} = 70 \, \text{kg} \times 9.81 \, \text{m/s}^2 \approx 686.7 \, \text{N} \]
- Their weight on Mars would be:
\[ \text{Weight on Mars} = 70 \, \text{kg} \times 3.71 \, \text{m/s}^2 \approx 259.7 \, \text{N} \]
So, while the mass (70 kg) remains unchanged regardless of location, the weight would be lower on Mars due to its weaker gravitational pull.
Weight is the force exerted by gravity on an object and depends on both the mass of the object and the gravitational acceleration at the location where the object is. The formula for weight is:
\[ \text{Weight} = \text{Mass} \times \text{Gravitational acceleration} \]
On Earth, the average gravitational acceleration is about \(9.81 \, \text{m/s}^2\), while on Mars it is approximately \(3.71 \, \text{m/s}^2\).
To illustrate this with an example, if a person has a mass of 70 kg:
- Their weight on Earth would be:
\[ \text{Weight on Earth} = 70 \, \text{kg} \times 9.81 \, \text{m/s}^2 \approx 686.7 \, \text{N} \]
- Their weight on Mars would be:
\[ \text{Weight on Mars} = 70 \, \text{kg} \times 3.71 \, \text{m/s}^2 \approx 259.7 \, \text{N} \]
So, while the mass (70 kg) remains unchanged regardless of location, the weight would be lower on Mars due to its weaker gravitational pull.