Neutron stars, such as the one at the center of the Crab Nebula, have about the

Question

Neutron stars, such as the one at the center of the Crab Nebula, have about the same mass as our sun but a much smaller diameter.

Part A

If you weigh 675 N on the earth, what would be your weight on the surface of a neutron star that has the same mass as our sun and a diameter of 18.0 km ?

Take the mass of the sun to be ms = 1.99×1030 kg , the gravitational constant to be G = 6.67×1011 Nm2/kg2 , and the acceleration due to gravity at the earth's surface to be g = 9.810 m/s2 .

Express your weight wstar in newtons

Explanation / Answer

By using Newtons second law, Force,F=mass*acceleration

So the mass is 675N / 9.81m/s2 = 68.8 kg

radius of star = 18000 / 2 = 9000 m
Gravitational acceleration on the star is

gstar = G*M/r2 = 6.67*10-11 * 1.99*1030 / 90002 = 1.64*1012 m/s2

so weight of the star is, wstar = m*g = 68.8kg * 1.64*1012m/s2 =1.13*1014 N

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