The weight of an object on the Moon becomes one-sixth of its weight on the Earth. What causes this change? Does the mass of the object also become one-sixth of its mass on the Earth?
The weight of an object on the Moon is one-sixth of its weight on Earth because the Moon's gravitational force is much weaker than Earth's gravitational force.
Weight is the gravitational force with which a planet pulls an object, and different planets have different gravitational forces.
However, the mass of the object does not change. Mass is the amount of matter in an object and remains the same everywhere.
The mass stays at its original value, not one-sixth, because mass is independent of gravitational force.
Explanation
The chapter provides a table showing that a 1 kg object weighs 10 N on Earth but only 1.6 N on the Moon. It explains that 'mass is the amount of matter in an object... Its value remains the same at every place. Weight, on the other hand, is the gravitational force... Since gravitational force can vary... weight can change, but mass does not.'
Solution Steps
The weight on the Moon is one-sixth of the weight on Earth due to the Moon's weaker gravitational force.
Weight is defined as the gravitational force with which a planet pulls an object.
Different planets have different gravitational forces, causing weight to vary.
Mass is the amount of matter in an object and remains constant everywhere.
Mass does not become one-sixth because it is independent of gravitational force.