Question

The weight of an object on the moon. varies directly as the weight of the objects on Earth. A 90-pound object on Earth weighs 15 pounds on the moon. If an object weighs 156 pounds on Earth, how much does it weigh on the moon?

Answer 1

26 pounds

Explanation:

The weight of the first object on the Earth is 90 pounds but on the moon, it is 15 pounds. This gives us a ratio between the relative gravitational field strengths of the Earth and the moon,

`W_M/(W_E)`

Which yields the ratio
`(15/90)= (1/6) approx 0.167`

In other words, your weight on the moon is `1/6` of what it is on Earth.

Thus we multiply the mass of the heavier object (algebraically) like this:

`(1/6)=(x)/(156)` ( `x`=mass on the moon)
`x=(156) times (1/6)`

`x=26`

So the weight of the object on the moon is 26 pounds.