Before the first lunar landing, how did scientists know there was no gravity on the moon?

Answer 1

There is gravity on the moon! It is about 1/8th as strong as gravity on the earth because the moon is about 1/8th the size of the earth. This was computed by scientists long before we actually landed on the moon. It's just a matter of physics.

Answer 2

There IS gravity on the Moon. About 1/6 as strong as Earth's gravity. The Moon's gravity causes the tides on Earth, so I suspect that had something to do with how the Moon's gravity was known before the space age.

Answer 3

There is gravity on the moon. According to Einstein's theory, any object that has mass has gravity. The moon's gravity is just less than the gravity on Earth. The gravity on the moon is about 1/6, not 1/8, of the gravity on the Earth.

Answer 4

There is gravity on the moon. Just less than on earth. As the gravity of an object is determined by its mass (size), all they had to do was measure the mass of the object, the moon, and they could determine what the gravity on it would be.

Every object as gravity. A mountain on earth as gravity. Just not (nearly) as much as the whole earth, so if you drop an object, it will go towards the whole earth rather than the mountain. But the mountain will have a slight effect on the object, pulling it just a hair towards the mountain. Scientist have measured this effect, and know how much gravity is effect by an object of a particular size. So they were able to make an accurate estimate of the gravity on the moon.

Answer 5

There is gravity on the moon and it was calculated long before the Apollo lunar missions that one would feel 1/6 of the gravitational force that he feels on earth.

This was calculated using the Newtonian physics law F=(mM)/r^2 (Gravity force equals mass of small object eg. astronaut times the mass of the big object e.g. moon over the square of the distance from the center of the moon.). Well you may now wonder how did they know the mass of the moon. This is done through observation of the orbit of the moon aroubd the earth, essentially applying the same law as above!

Answer 6

They speculated that there WAS gravity on the moon, and that is was 1/6 th gravity of the earth. They calculated gravity by mass.

I don't know if they made in accurate measurements of the gravity on the moon, but the astronauts did jump and land, good distances, and I believe they drove a golf ball quite a distance. Therefore, the astronauts experienced gravity on the moon.

The claimed it had no atmosphere, partially because of the low gravity, and partly because their was supposedly no greenhouse canopy to hold on to atmosphere, which might possibly have been produced by outgassing from rocks.

Also, they didn't think their telescopes were subject to distortion by an atmosphere.

Answer 7

Actually, there is gravity on the Moon, only much less than down here. Gravity relates to the mass of a planet, and since we could figure out how large the Moon is, we could calculate the gravity.

Answer 8

I can't believe some of the crap that people spew out while trying to sound intelligent. The gravity on the moon is approximalely 1/6th of that on earth, not 1/8th or 1/10th.

Answer 9

Amazing, you know. Just how much attention you guys must've paid your science teachers when you were at school, or do if you still are. Only a few have it right.

The Moon's gravity is 1/6 of the Earth's, and it's 1/81.3 of the mass of the Earth.

Answer 10

Actually, the Moon has about one-sixth the gravity of Earth. Anything (even the smallest particle) that has mass, has gravity.