You are a tourist on space odyssey; at what altitude above the surface

[jasonbans]

Homework Statement

You are a tourist on space odyssey; at what altitude above the surface of Earth will your weight be one-half your weight on the surface? express your answer as a mutiple of Earth's radius rE

Homework Equations

Fg= GMm/r^2

The Attempt at a Solution

not sure how to do it

 

[PeterO]

Homework Statement

You are a tourist on space odyssey; at what altitude above the surface of Earth will your weight be one-half your weight on the surface? express your answer as a mutiple of Earth's radius rE

Homework Equations

Fg= GMm/r^2

The Attempt at a Solution

not sure how to do it

Do you mean your actual weight or your apparent weight? Remember the apparent weight of people on the space station is zero as they are in free fall, but their actual weight is around 90% of their weight on Earth - because there g ~ 8.9 rather than the 9.8 on the surface.

 

[jasonbans]

Do you mean your actual weight or your apparent weight? Remember the apparent weight of people on the space station is zero as they are in free fall, but their actual weight is around 90% of their weight on Earth - because there g ~ 8.9 rather than the 9.8 on the surface.

actual weight

 

[PeterO]

actual weight

Look at your formula and consider what change can be made to halve the force.

I don't think you can change G - is is after all the Universal Gravitational Constant.

M won't alter - mass of the Earth

You could halve m if you put the passenger on a diet, but I don't think that is feasible.

Doesn't leave much else - and remember R is the distance from the centre of the Earth, so we are already one Earth radius away when standing on the surface.