Graviational acceleration given mass and radius

AI Thread Summary
To calculate gravitational acceleration on a planet with five times Earth's mass and twice its radius, the formula GM/r^2 is used. The mass of Earth is 6.00 x 10^24 kg and its radius is 6.38 x 10^3 km. Initial attempts to solve the problem revealed issues with unit conversion, emphasizing the importance of using SI units. A reminder was given to avoid inserting specific numbers until necessary, which can simplify the problem. Ultimately, the correct approach led to finding the desired gravitational acceleration.
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Homework Statement


If you lived on a planet with five times the mass of Earth and twice the radius, what would be the gravitational acceleration at the surface of your planet?


Homework Equations


GM/r^2
Mass of Earth = 6.00*10^24 kg
Radius of Earth = 6.38*10^3 km

The Attempt at a Solution


So, when I started out doing this, I quickly plugged in Earth's radius (in m), mass (in kg) and the gravitational constant just to make sure it came out at 9.8 because I know that's what Earth's gravitational acceleration from the surface is, but none of the answer I get are even close. I can't even get this right and I still have to do the actual problem (using 5x the mass and 2x the radius).
 
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Two rules for doing physics problems:
1 - Check your units
2 - Never put in a hard number until you can't avoid it

You're tripping over rule 1 - which of your numbers is not in SI units?

Remember rule 2 when you're doing the question proper. The approach I suspect you are about to use will work, but there is a way to do it without needing to know either the Earth's mass or radius.
 
Thanks, I actually went back and redid it later and got the answer I was looking for.
 
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