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The gravitational attraction on the surface of the Moon (lunar surface) is about 1/6 th of that on the surface of the Earth. An astronaut can throw a ball up to a height of 8 m from the surface of the Earth. How far up will the ball thrown with the same upward velocity travel from the surface of the Moon?
Show Answer
For the same throwing speed, \(\tfrac{1}{2}mv^2 = mgh \Rightarrow h = \dfrac{v^2}{2g}\), so \(h \propto \dfrac{1}{g}\).
On the Moon \(g\) is \(\tfrac{1}{6}\) of Earth's, so the height is 6 times larger: \(h_{\text{moon}} = 6 \times 8 = 48\ \text{m}\).
