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Mazy's maze goes on a space mission!

Last Updated 28 April 2011, 10:16 IST
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See, it is a story that has twin kids, a girl and a boy. And they get lost when they are five years old, and years later are re-united when they both land on the moon for a joint India-Australia space experiment. They look at each other and ....well, I don’t want to spoil your fun by telling you the entire story now! I’d like it if you buy a copy and read the book for yourself. But there is one part where they both jump with joy.

That is where Mazy's hazy idea is stuck. If they jump with joy on the moon, they will appear to come down in slow motion, right? Because the force of gravity is one sixth of what it is on the earth. If the girl-who-grows-into-astronaut has a mass of 50 kg on earth, what will she weigh on the moon?

I’m so confused....I ...I...can’t go ahead with my story. Please help me solve this weighty problem...

Out of the maze:

Trick question, guys! Mass remains the same wherever you are measured. So if our heroine has a mass of 50 kg on earth, her mass on the moon will also be 50 kg. But weight is a force —  it is the force with which a body like the earth or the moon pulls you. And that can change. This force is called gravity. Our heroine’s weight on the moon = 1/6 x 50 =8.3 kg.

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(Published 28 April 2011, 10:14 IST)

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