2006-11-04 03:26:53 · 5 answers · asked by jinde p 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
jinde, hi!
what an amazing question! i remember reading about this somewhere, so it took me so long to research it...
see, when we talk about weight, it varies from spot to spot in the universe. you may weigh 60kgs on Earth. but on the moon, you'd be 10kgs. on Jupiter, you'd be 600000kgs!!!
what we need to discuss is the mass of the object, because that would be the only thing that makes sense on the Galactic scale. are you ready for the answer? it's gonna be mind-boggling!
The Earth's mass is approximately 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (6E+24) kilograms!!
i know what you're next question will be?
"How did they measure that?" i have the answer for you!
the measurement of the planet's weight is derived from the gravitational attraction that the Earth has for objects near it.
it turns out that any two masses have a gravitational attraction for one another. if you put two iron weights near each other, they will attract one another gravitationally. the attraction is extremely slight, but if your instruments are sensitive enough you can measure the gravitational attraction that they have on one another. from that measurement, you could determine the mass of the two objects. the same is true for two marbles too! but the attraction is even slighter because the amount of gravitational force depends on mass of the objects...
Newton showed that, for spherical objects, you can make the simplifying assumption that all of the object's mass is concentrated at the center of the sphere... and the following equation expresses the gravitational attraction that two spherical objects have on one another :
F = G * M1 * M2 / R2
* R is the distance separating the two objects.
* G is a constant that is 6.67259x10-11m3/s2 kg.
* M1 and M2 are the two masses that are attracting each other.
* F is the force of attraction between them.
assume that Earth is one of the masses (M1) and a 1-kg sphere is the other (M2). the force between them is 9.8 kg*m/s2 -- we can calculate this force by dropping the 1-kg sphere and measuring the acceleration that the Earth's gravitational field applies to it (9.8 m/s2)...
the radius of the Earth is 6,400,000 meters (6,999,125 yards)... if you plug all of these values in and solve for M1, you find that the mass of the Earth is 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kilograms (6E+24 kilograms / 1.3E+25 pounds)...
hope this made sense... and if it did, i hope it was useful to you...
do write me if you need more clarification...
enjoy!
2006-11-04 03:42:00 · answer #1 · answered by bangaloresizzler 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
This is an arbitrary question. The weight of the Earth must be given in relation to a force acting upon it, such as the sun. According to Newton, F=Ma, so weight is determined by the mass of the Earth and the acceleration of the gravitational pull of a more massive body. We measure our weight on Earth since the gravational force of the Earth is much greater than our own gravational force.
2006-11-04 13:24:50 · answer #2 · answered by Amphibolite 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I note bangalore gave a good answer, but he keeps writing 6 followed by 21 zeros and calling it 6E+24.
The best answer therefore is that from from jay.
2006-11-04 16:25:40 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
588*10^19 metric ton.
2006-11-04 11:41:55 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
nothing ........... it is floating in the Galaxy ................
2006-11-04 11:35:16 · answer #5 · answered by spaceman 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋