Moon luggage calculator
20 minutes · Paper · Pencil · Calculator, optional
Your investigation
- Pretend a luggage scale reads 6, 12, and 18 units on Earth for three different bags.
- Use the classroom approximation that Moon surface weight is one-sixth of Earth surface weight. Calculate each Moon reading.
- Draw the same bag on both worlds and label its mass as unchanged.
- Write what a weaker gravity field changes, and what it does not.
Think, draw, explain
What are the three Moon readings?
Would the bag contain fewer things on the Moon?
Grown-up guide & possible answers
- The approximate Moon readings are 1, 2, and 3 weight units.
- No. The contents and mass stay the same. Local gravity changes weight; the one-sixth factor is a rounded comparison, not a precise value for every location.