Statement I: A body weighs less on a hill top than on earth's surface even though its mass remains unchanged.Statement II:
The acceleration due to gravity of the earth decreases with height.

Question

Question

This question was previously asked in

NDA (Held On: 19 April 2015) General Ability Test Previous Year paper

Attempt in App

Both the statements are individually true and Statement II is the correct explanation of Statement I
Both the statements are individually true but Statement II is not the correct explanation of Statement I
Statement I is true but Statement II is false
Statement I is false but Statement II is true

Answer 1

CONCEPT:

The acceleration achieved by any object due to the gravitational force of attraction by any planet is called acceleration due to gravity by the earth.
As each planet has different mass and radius so the acceleration due to gravity will be different for different planet.

Acceleration due to gravity of earth having mass M on the surface of the earth is given by:

Acceleration due to gravity at height (h) above the earth’s surface is given by:

Where G is Universal gravitational constant, R is radius of the earth and h is height

Weight (W) = m g

EXPLANATION:

Weight on earth’s surface is given by:

W = m g

Weight on the hill top of height h is given by:

W > W’

The acceleration due to gravity above the earth’s surface decreases with height and hence the weight of the body is less at the hill top than at the earth’s surface. Thus statement II is correct explanation for statement I. So option 1 is correct.