Interest question: How can i find the mass of an object in a gravitational field? (1 Viewer)

tumut

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Hey, I've sort of challenged myself to figure this out, and I've been working on it for about an hour to no avail, Google didn't help either. I'm not even sure if it is remotely possible but I thought I would at least try!

Me = Mass of Earth, 5.97*10^24m
Mo = Mass of object, let's say, a space shuttle
re = Radius of Earth, 6.38*10^6m
I'm not really sure of the coefficient symbol for altitude so let's go with Ax, Ax = 400km
Gravity at altitude = 8.68m/s/s
G = 6.67*10^-11

And the formula I have been using are as follows:

Mo*g = G*(Me * Mo)/re^2

F = Mo*g

Mo*g = G*(Me * Mo)/(re^2 * Ax)

Is it possible? I really hope it is

Much love to anyone who can help~
 

grizzlybear

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this is a 6 mark question its pretty basic... like i'm not telling you cause your my competition.... its a dog eat dog world...
 

deswa1

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Wait what? I don't get the question. The mass of an object will be the same independent of the gravitational field force (not sure if this still applies with general relativity but definitey within HSC syllabus). Are you trying to find the weight of the object or what?
 

Hoskiies

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Wait what? I don't get the question. The mass of an object will be the same independent of the gravitational field force (not sure if this still applies with general relativity but definitey within HSC syllabus). Are you trying to find the weight of the object or what?
+1
 

jyu

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Mo*g = G*(Me * Mo)/(re^2 * Ax)

Not possible, g is not constant.
 

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