• Question: does your weight change in space??

    Asked by ShannonRooney to Andrea, Charlie 🚀, Col Op, Kirsty, Vinita on 17 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Kirsty Lindsay

      Kirsty Lindsay answered on 17 Jun 2016:

      There is a few ways to answer this:

      1. yes your weight becomes zero. Weight = mass x gravitational acceleration, which is also zero.
      2. maybe- your body mass can go up or down in space, depending on how much you eat and exercise, just like on Earth.

    • Photo: Charles Laing

      Charles Laing answered on 17 Jun 2016:

      Hi ShannonRooney,

      Yes your weight does change in space – it becomes zero!

      However, your mass does not. Astronauts can actually figure out how much mass they are in space by using a special rocking platform that swings them back and forth.

      It is a little bit more complicated than on Earth but they can’t just stand on some bathroom scales as it won’t work!

      Charlie 😀🚀

    • Photo: Andrea Boyd

      Andrea Boyd answered on 19 Jun 2016:

      What they said 🙂

Comments