Calculate Earth's Gravitational Field at the Moon

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on calculating Earth's gravitational field at the Moon, given the Moon's mass of 7.34x10^22 kg and its distance of 3.8x10^8 m from Earth. The gravitational force of attraction between Earth and the Moon is established at 2.01e+20 N. To find Earth's gravitational field at the Moon, it is necessary to apply the formula for gravitational field strength, which is derived from Newton's law of universal gravitation, while considering the distance from the Earth's center to the Moon's surface.

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  • Newton's law of universal gravitation
  • Gravitational field strength calculation
  • Understanding of mass and distance in gravitational contexts
  • Basic physics concepts related to gravitational forces
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The Moon's mass is 7.34x10^22 kg, and it is 3.8x10^8 m away from Earth. Earth's mass is 5.97x10^24 kg.

(a) Calculate the gravitational force of attraction between Earth and the Moon.
I already did that. It's 2.01e+20.

(b) Find Earth's gravitational field at the Moon.
This is the part I'm having trouble with. Could someone please explain to me how to do this?
 
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How do we get 9.8m/s^2 on the earth? Basically I think they want you to ignore the moons mass, and compute a new "g" , not at the Earth's surface but at a distance from the center of the Earth to the moons surface. Here, the distance given from the Earth to the moon will be the quantity you use as accuracy won't suffer too much.
 

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