Would an object have the same density on the moon as it does on the earth?

Answer 1

Yes, it would have the same density. The volume of an object does not change no matter where it is. So on the moon the object would have the same mass and volume as it would on earth; therefore that object would have the same density. Density equals mass divided by volume.

Answer 2

If you drop a hammer and a feather from the same height on earth, the hammer will hit the ground first as the feather is slowed down drastically by air resistance.

But on the moon, because it is a vacuum, and since the acceleration of an object is the same as the gravity i.e. a = g and the mass is not in the equation, all objects will have the same accelaration and hence the hammer should fall to the surface of moon at the same time as the feather but:

"Both will hit the moon at the same time as believed by most scientists?"

This may not be absolutely true since every object has its own gravity which is greater if its mass is greater. So the hammer has a gravity much greater than that of the feather. Therefore the combined gravity of the hammer and that of the moon (which pulls the hammer and moon towards each other) is greater than that of the feather and the moon.

As such the hammer should collide with the moon marginally earlier than that between the feather and the moon, though this difference is so minute that we assume that the collisions occur simultaneously.

However, if the hammer and feather are dropped together, then as the hammer's gravity pulls the moon towards itself, it also pull the moon towards the feather and as such the lucky feather may get a free ride and hits the moon at the same time as the hammer.

But even with this help, the feather will still take a slightly longer time to collide with the moon as the gravity from the hammer will cause the flight path of the feather to curve towards the hammer and as such takes a longer path and hence a longer time to hit the moon.

To be fair, the experiment should be done dropping the feather first, then the hammer and then see the different times taken.

All the above are valid only on the assumption that the centre of gravity is the part that hits the moon but since this is not true, we also have to take into account which part of the hammer or feather is nearest to the moon before the two objects were released !

So, the real answer is that there is not enough data for us to know which will hit the moon first !

Dr Looi

Answer 3

mass is mass, so the mass will always stay the same. However the weight will change because there is less gravity on the moon than the earth.

Mass is how much "stuff" is in an object, and it never changes, but weight is gravitational pull, so it will vary

Answer 4

Yes, the mass would remain the same, but the weight would change because the Moon has lower gravity subscribe to Aalivia MSP for 1,000 subscribers

Answer 5

No