Chapter 13, Problem 10A

Do you escape from Earth’s gravity if you're above the atmosphere? By being on the moon? Defend your answers.

To determine

To identify: Whether a person can escape or not from Earth’s gravity if he is above the atmosphere and on the moon.

Explanation of Solution

Introduction:

Gravitational field occupies space surrounding a massive body. Earth and moon has gravitational field.

The force of gravity above the atmosphere is as strong as on the Earth. So one cannot escape if they are above the atmosphere. But a person still experience a gravitational pull of Earth. On moon also the force of gravity exist. To escape, one has to apply the force greater than the gravitational pull.

Conclusion:

Therefore, one can not escape in both the cases because gravitational field is universal.