How strong is gravity on Mars?
Gravity on Mars is 3.71 m/s², about 38% of Earth's 9.81. Something that weighs 100 pounds on Earth weighs 38 on Mars. You could jump about two and a half times higher, and an apple you can throw 11.5 meters at home lands about 29.7 meters away.
This is the math inside Snack Lob, a slingshot game about feeding hungry monsters on eight planets. It is coming to iPad first.
The short version
| Surface gravity | 3.71 m/s² |
|---|---|
| Next to Earth's | 0.38 times |
| A 100 pound person weighs | 38 pounds |
| Air | Very thin, about 1.6% as dense as Earth's |
| An apple thrown at 23 mph lands | 29.7 m away (11.5 m on Earth) |
| It stays in the air | 4.1 s (1.6 s on Earth) |
Where the numbers come from. Gravity figures are NASA's. The throw distances are worked out from them with the air each place has, the same way the game does it. NASA Planetary Fact Sheet, NASA on Titan.
Try it: Earth, then Mars
Pull back on the picture and let go. The apple leaves your hand at the same speed both times.
More questions
How high could you jump on Mars?
About two and a half times as high as on Earth. A jump that gets you half a meter off the ground here gets you about 1.3 meters on Mars, and you take longer to come back down.
Why is Mars's gravity weaker than Earth's?
Mars is a smaller planet. It is about half as wide as Earth and has about a tenth of the mass, so it pulls on you a lot less.
Does the air on Mars slow a throw down?
Barely. The air on Mars is about 1.6% as dense as Earth's. That is why the throw on Mars (29.7 meters) lands almost exactly where it does on Mercury (29.8 meters), which has the same gravity and no air at all.
Gravity on the Moon
Gravity on Jupiter
Your weight on other planets
Snack Lob: one throw on eight planets