Question

An astronaut is on an asteroid. The astronaut has a mass of 100 kg, and she wears boots

that are approximately a rectangle 10 cm ×

30 cm. There happens to be a puddle of liquid mercury on the asteroid, which the astronaut steps in, and she notices that her boot does not

break the surface of the mercury. She proceeds to walk carefully across the puddle without

breaking the surface. What is the maximum acceleration due to gravity near the asteroid’s

surface, in units of the acceleration due to gravity near the surface of the earth?

Answer 1

Here ,

as surface tension of mercury , T = 486.5 mN/m = 4.865 N/m

let the acceleration due to gravity is g

for the astronaut to not break the surface

0.10 * 0.30 * 4.865 = 100 * g/9.81

g = 0.0143 times the acceleration due to gravity on earth

the acceleration on the asteroid is 0.0143 times the acceleration due to gravity on earth