In: Physics
Neutron stars, such as the one at the center of the Crab Nebula, have about the same mass as our sun but a much smaller diameter. |
Part A If you weigh 675 NN on the earth, what would be your weight on the surface of a neutron star that has the same mass as our sun and a diameter of 21.0 kmkm ? Take the mass of the sun to be msms = 1.99×1030 kgkg , the gravitational constant to be GG = 6.67×10−11 N⋅m2/kg2N⋅m2/kg2 , and the free-fall acceleration at the earth's surface to be gg = 9.8 m/s2m/s2 . Express your weight wstarwstar in newtons. |
If mas of the Earth is Mearth, the radius of earth is Rearth and G is the gravitational constant, then the acceleration due to gravity of the earth is given by,
Given the weight of the person on Earth is Wearth = 675N. Let m be the mass of the person, then the weight of the person on earth is given as
So the mass of the person is 68.88kg.
Let Wstar be the weight of the person in the neutron star. If gstar is the acceleration due to gravity in the neutron star, then
If Mstar is the mass of the neutron star and Rstar is the radius of the neutron star, then
Given G = 6.67 x 10-11 Nm2/kg2 and the diameter d of the neutron star is 21km. So the radius of the neutron star is Rstar = 10.5km = 10.5 x 103m. the mass of the neutron star is same as that of the sun. So Mstar = 1.99 x 1030kg. Therefore,
So the weight of the person in the neutron star is 82.66 x 1012N.