A hypothetical planet has a radius 1.7 times that of Earth, but has the same mass. What is the acceleration ?

A hypothetical planet has a radius 1.7 times that of Earth, but has the same mass. What is the acceleration due to gravity near its surface?

Well the force due to gravity is inversely proportional to the square of the radius. If the radius is larger but the mass is the same then the force on a given body is smaller. Since the radius is 1.7 times smaller, the acceleration is 9.8 m/(s^2) scaled by 1/(1.7^2). This is about 3.39 meters per second squared.

a = g/(1.7)² = g/2.89 = 3.4 m/s²

Answer Prime

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