motatnzDid you know that if you could stand on another planet your weight would change? If you could stand on Jupiter you might weigh as much as a Giant Panda here on Earth. This is because of gravity.
What’s Gravity?
Gravity is a force that pulls things towards the centre of an object. The more mass an object has, the stronger its gravitational pull. That is the stronger it pulls other objects in towards it. This is why we stay on Earth and don’t fly off into space. Earth’s gravity pulls us towards the centre of the planet. That’s why we fall down holes!
When you weigh yourself, you are actually measuring the amount of force gravity is pulling on you. Earth’s gravity pulls on all the mass of your body – that’s what gives you your weight. The more mass you have, the more stuff gravity can pull on and therefore the more you weigh.
The planets in our solar system all have a different mass. Planets that are less massive than Earth have less gravitational pull than Earth. Mars has less mass than Earth so if you were to weigh yourself on the surface of Mars – you would weigh a lot less. This is because there is less gravitational force to pull on you even though your body mass stays the same.
How much would you weigh on another planet?
Enter your weight below in kilograms or pounds. Then you will see how much you would weigh if you could stand on the surface of the other planets in our solar system.
What’s the gravity of other planets compared to Earth’s?
These planets have a different mass to Earth. So they have stronger or weaker gravity. Here is the difference in gravity for each of the planets (and dwarf planet Pluto) compared to Earth’s gravity.
- Mercury 38%
- Venus 91%
- Mars 38%
- Jupiter 234%
- Saturn 106%
- Uranus 92%
- Neptune 119%
- Pluto 6%
You can learn more about gravity in our solar system at the very excellent NASA website here https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/what-is-gravity/en/
And if you’d like to completely fry your noodle check out this short video on gravity’s effect on time and Einstein’s Gravitational Time Dilation theory.
