- #1
in the rye
- 83
- 6
Homework Statement
The asteroid 243 Ida has a mass of about 4.0×1016kg and an average radius of about 16 km (it’s not spherical, but you can assume it is). If you can jump 61 cm straight up on earth, how high could you jump on 243 Ida? (Assume the asteroid’s gravity doesn’t weaken significantly over the distance of your jump.).
I got the correct answer, I just want to verify my method.
Homework Equations
Kinematic Equations, Newton Laws, Newtons Gravitational, haven't covered work/energy yet.
The Attempt at a Solution
Initially I tried using the kinematic equations, I could get them to workout because my initial velocity was unknown, and I figured it would vary due to my acceleration due to gravity. Is this correct? Or can you use kinematic equations to solve this?
My next guess was to express Earth's gravity in a ratio with Ida 243's gravity. That is 9.8/(1.0428*10-2) This gave me 9.39766 * ida's g. I figured then my distance to be 9.39766*.62 because my acceleration downwards would be less, which means the height of my jump should be proportionally related to the decrease/increase of gravity. This gave me 573m, which is correct. However, I want to be sure I went about solving this correctly.
Thanks.