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Re: Question

Subject: Re: Question
From: Chris L Peterson
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 04:06:23 GMT
Newsgroups: sci.astro.amateur
On Mon, 22 Aug 2005 20:07:48 -0700, "Starlord" <starlord@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>Ok, below is a question sent to me from one of the members of the SIAR:
>
>"I have a small quandary.  I've assigned my students to look up
>some basic info on the planets via the web.  Then I tried to create
>the answer key, and found VERY contradictory info regarding
>Mercury from assorted, reputable sources.  It seems that online
>info indicates Mercury's surface gravity is 0.28 G, 0.33 G, or
>0.38 G (virtually identical to Mars).
>
>Do you have some info on this?  Is there a solid, definitive answer?"
>
>What you all say?

Lang gives a value of 3.7 m/s^2, or 0.38G. You can test this, using

A = Mp / Rp^2 * Ae
(Mp, Rp are mass and radius relative to Earth, Ae is Earth's gravity)
 
A = 0.05527 / 0.382^2 * 9.8 m/s^2 = 3.71 m/s^2 = 0.38G

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

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