does this make sense?

Question

if you counkd go shopping on the Moon to buy a pound of choloate, you'd get a lot more than if you bought a pound on earth

Answer 1

yes, it does make sense

Answer 2

If the chocolate were actually sold by the pound (a unit of "weight"), then maybe you could get a lot more...

One pound on the moon is a lot more mass than one pound on Earth. Because weight is the interaction of mass with gravity. Since gravity on the moon is much less than earth, so is the weight. But an objects "mass", the actual amount of matter, is the same.

Practically speaking, most items are sold by mass. Think of a scale called a "balance". If you put a 1 kilogram mass on one side, and your chocoloate on the other, you will get the the same quantity on both the earth and the moon. Both sides of the balance are affected the same by gravity.

Now, if you can get someone on the moon to use a scale that weighs in pounds (like a scale with springs) then you would get a lot more (6 times as much) for the money.

Of course, including the cost of going to the moon, and research to find a merchant that stupid...well, it would probably not be worth it.

Answer 3

That depends by what you mean by "a pound". It's true that everything on the Moon weighs less because the gravity on the Moon is weaker. So in this respect, you can buy more if you're buying an Earth pound of chocalate on the Moon and paying Earth prices per pound.

Answer 4

Weight depends on the strength of gravity; it is the product of the acceleration of gravity and the mass of the object. (Mass depends on the object only--an object has the same mass no matter where it is in the universe, even in deep space where there is no gravity).

Gravity is caused by 1) the mass of the planet or moon that your are on or near and 2) how far you are from the center of that planet or moon. Earth's moon is smaller than Earth. it has a smaller radius which increases gravity at its surface, but is it much, much less massive, decreasing gravity by a lot. The net result is that the gravitational pull at the moon's surface is only about 1/6'th the gravitational pull at Earth's surface. Therefor, a block of chocolate that weighs 1 pound on the moon will weigh 6 pounds on Earth!

Of course, the chocolate from the moon will be much more expensive than Earth chocolate since it's imported... ;-)

Answer 5

That would depend on how you measured the pound of chocolate on the moon. If they just ship one-pound packages of chocolate from the earth to Moon-Mart, you'll get the same amount.

If they ship a balance-type scale with a marked set of weights to weigh the chocolate, then they put the marked "1 lb" weight on, and add chocolate to the other side until it balances. Since the weight is just as much lighter now as the chocolate, the same amount of chocolate will balance on the moon as on the earth.

If Moon-Mart uses an earth-calibrated electronic scale that has a "load cell" to measure downward force, finally you win! The shopkeeper will load chocolate onto the pan until it presses down with the same force as a pound on earth, and you get about 6 pounds of yummy chocolate goodness.

In a real-world Moon-Mart, they'll have recalibrated the scale so you get the same MASS of chocolate even though it WEIGHS less. It will probably have a little switch on the bottom labelled "Earth-Moon-Mars-Vesta" and con-men will switch it to the wrong one to rip you off.

Answer 6

That would only work out if the Moon's chocolate vendor had the same price per pound, as an Earth vendor. Since the Moon vendor would have higher costs, it seems unlikely he'd sell you a full moon-pound of chocolate for the same price as an earth-pound.

Remember, pounds are a measure of weight, which is a function of the mass of the object, AND the gravity field it is within. If our mythical chocolate vendors sold by mass, both would be selling the same amount for the same "size".

Answer 7

Because gravity on the moon is only 1/5 or 1/6 of earth's gravity, it would take 5 to 6 times more mass to equal one pound on earth than it does on the moon.

Remember that pounds do not measure mass. The same mass on earth would weigh less than on the moon.

Answer 8

If you went to the moon and using a weight scale that was CALIBRATED for use on earth, and then used it on the moon to measure the mass of choclate equal to a pound, it would actually weigh about 6 pounds on earth- or the scale would read 1 pound on the moon

Answer 9

yeah it makes sense! It has to do with gravity. The amount of gravity each planet has determines how much a given item will weigh. There isn't hardly any gravity on the moon compared to the planet earth that is why things will weigh more here. Weight is just a unit of measure for basically how hard something is being pulled downward towards the center of the planet.

Answer 10

This is the difference between weight and mass. A pound is a unit that is measured relative to gravitational pull, whereas a kilogram is measured relative to a standardized unit of mass.

If you took a pound of chocolate to the moon it would weigh about 1/6th of what it did on Earth. If you took a kilogram of chocolate to the moon it would still "weigh" one kilogram and the scale would remain the same.

Answer 11

Yes. Things weigh 1/6 of what they weigh on the Earth, so, if you bought a pound of chocolate on the moon, it would weigh 6 pounds on Earth.