A rock on the surface of the Earth has a mass of 12 kg. (i) Calculate the weight of this rock on the surface of the Earth. The gravitational field strength on the surface of the Earth is 10N/kg. Use the equation W = m x g (ii) The weight of the same rock on the surface of the Moon is 20N. Calculate the gravitational field strength on the surface of the Moon.

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A rock on the surface of the Earth has a mass of 12 kg - Edexcel - GCSE Physics - Question 7 - 2022 - Paper 1

Question 7

A rock on the surface of the Earth has a mass of 12 kg. (i) Calculate the weight of this rock on the surface of the Earth. The gravitational field strength on the su... show full transcript

Worked Solution & Example Answer:A rock on the surface of the Earth has a mass of 12 kg - Edexcel - GCSE Physics - Question 7 - 2022 - Paper 1

Step 1

Calculate the weight of this rock on the surface of the Earth.

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Answer

To calculate the weight of the rock, we use the formula:

W = m \times g

where:

$m$ is the mass of the rock (12 kg)
$g$ is the gravitational field strength on Earth (10 N/kg).

Substituting the values into the formula gives:

W = 12 \text{ kg} \times 10 \text{ N/kg} = 120 \text{ N}

Thus, the weight of the rock on the surface of the Earth is 120 N.

Step 2

Calculate the gravitational field strength on the surface of the Moon.

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Answer

To find the gravitational field strength ( $g$ ) on the Moon, we can rearrange the weight formula:

g = \frac{W}{m}

Given that the weight of the rock on the Moon is 20 N and its mass remains 12 kg, we substitute these values:

g = \frac{20 \text{ N}}{12 \text{ kg}} \approx 1.67 \text{ N/kg}

Hence, the gravitational field strength on the surface of the Moon is approximately 1.67 N/kg.

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