Question

Imagine a spacecraft going from the earth to the moon. How does its weight vary as it goes from the earth to the moon?

• A. Initially decreases then becomes zero and again increases.
• B. Initially increases and again increases.
• C. Initially decreases again increases.
• D. zero throughout the path
  

Answer 1

The correct option is A Initially decreases then becomes zero and again increases.

When a spacecraft is going from Earth to Moon,as long it is under Earth's gravitation,the acceleration due to gravity like $g^{\prime }=g(1-\frac{h}{r})$ [g=acceleration due to gravity at the surface of the Earth]

Then, when it goes out of the Earth's gravitation,its weight will be zero.

After that,it will enter to the moon's gravitational field.

Then its acceleration due to Gravity will be $g^{\prime }=g(1-\frac{(-h)}{r})$

i.e,weight will be increasing