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How to Calculate Your Weight on the Moon

Your weight is a measure of the amount of gravity exerted on your body by the planet Earth. If you travel to a different planet or celestial body, such as the moon, your weight changes if the gravity is different. Because the moon has approximately one-sixth of the gravity that Earth does, you'd weigh less standing on it. You can calculate how much you would weigh if you were standing on the moon with a simple mathematical formula.

Instructions

- 1
  Write down your weight in pounds. For example, suppose that you weigh 135 pounds.
- 2
  Determine the relative gravitational pull of the moon, which is 0.17 on a scale where Earth's gravity is 1, the sun's is 27.07 and in deep outer space it is almost zero. Write your equation; here you would multiply the number by your weight. So in the example, you would write down "135 x 0.17."
- 3
  Solve the equation. In the example, you would obtain the product 22.95. So a person weighing 135 pounds on Earth would weigh just under 23 pounds on the moon. That would be the equivalent of about 10.4 kilograms, though technically kilograms are a unit of mass, not weight.

Astronomy