Question

Suppose you are standing on a tall ladder. If your distance from the centre of the earth is 2R, what will be your weight?

Answer 1

The gravitational force (and hence weight) varies inversely with the square of the distance from the Earth's centre.

If your distance from the Earth's centre is 2R (where R is the Earth's radius), then

`W' = W (R/(2R))^2`

`W (1/2)^2`

= `W/4`

Your weight will be one-fourth of your weight on the Earth's surface.