What is the rate of gravitational acceleration on the Moon, Venus, and Mars?

shawn888

The rate of gravitational acceleration on the Moon is 1/6th that of Earth's i.e. 1.63 m/sec squared. Sep 15 04, 8:24 PM

gmackematix

The value of g on Venus and Mars will be of similar magnitude but a little less as these planets are slightly smaller than Earth. If I had a calculator to hand and wasn't feeling a bit lazy right now I'd give exact figures! Sep 16 04, 9:39 AM

NathaNsc

Venus: 8.869 m/s^2 Mars: 3.73 m/s^2 Sep 16 04, 11:14 AM

Legolaschic

I didn't realize there was such a difference in the gravity on Earth and Mars! I've always thought of it was like Gmack said that they would be close since the planets are so close in size. Is the matter making up Earth just a lot denser or what? Sep 16 04, 11:49 AM

gmackematix

I am right about Venus being similar but Mars is a lot smaller than I realised. Mars has only about 0.53 the diameter of Earth and about a tenth of the mass. Earth is the densest planet in the solar system due to the amount of iron in the core, but their relative sizes make a big difference anyway. g = GM/(r squared) is the formula needed where G is the universal gravitational constant, M is the planet's mass and r is its radius. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_%28planet%29 Sep 16 04, 3:53 PM