{"id":89034,"date":"2025-06-01T07:28:07","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T07:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/?p=89034"},"modified":"2025-06-01T07:28:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T07:28:07","slug":"an-astronaut-whose-weight-on-the-earth-is-600-n-experiences-weightless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/an-astronaut-whose-weight-on-the-earth-is-600-n-experiences-weightless\/","title":{"rendered":"An astronaut whose weight on the Earth is 600 N experiences weightless"},"content":{"rendered":"

An astronaut whose weight on the Earth is 600 N experiences weightlessness on International Space Station orbiting around the Earth. It means that<\/p>\n

[amp_mcq option1=”acceleration of the astronaut is zero” option2=”normal reaction of the space station floor on the astronaut is zero” option3=”gravitational pull of earth on the astronaut is zero” option4=”space station applies a centrifugal force on the astronaut” correct=”option2″]<\/p>\n

\n
\n
This question was previously asked in<\/div>\n
UPSC NDA-2 – 2024<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Download PDF<\/a>Attempt Online<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\nThe correct answer is B. An astronaut experiences weightlessness on the International Space Station (ISS) because the normal reaction force from the space station floor on the astronaut is zero.
\n<\/section>\n
\n– Weight is the force exerted on an object due to gravity. On Earth, we feel our weight because of the normal force exerted by the surface supporting us, which balances gravity.
\n– The ISS and everything in it, including the astronaut, are constantly in freefall around the Earth. They are orbiting because they have a high tangential velocity while simultaneously accelerating towards the Earth due to gravity.
\n– In freefall, there is no supporting surface providing a normal reaction force to counteract gravity. The feeling of weight comes from this reaction force. Since this support force is absent, the astronaut feels weightless.
\n– The gravitational pull of Earth on the astronaut is not zero in orbit; it is still significant (around 90% of Earth’s surface gravity at ISS altitude) and is what keeps the ISS in orbit.
\n– The astronaut is accelerating towards the Earth (centripetal acceleration required for circular motion), so their acceleration is not zero.
\n– Centrifugal force is a fictitious force experienced in a rotating frame of reference; it’s not a real force causing weightlessness.
\n<\/section>\n
\nThe state of apparent weightlessness in orbit is often referred to as microgravity. It is not due to the absence of gravity, but rather the state of continuous freefall. The ISS is continuously falling towards Earth, but its high orbital speed causes it to miss the Earth, resulting in an orbit.
\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An astronaut whose weight on the Earth is 600 N experiences weightlessness on International Space Station orbiting around the Earth. It means that [amp_mcq option1=”acceleration of the astronaut is zero” option2=”normal reaction of the space station floor on the astronaut is zero” option3=”gravitational pull of earth on the astronaut is zero” option4=”space station applies a … <\/p>\n

Detailed SolutionAn astronaut whose weight on the Earth is 600 N experiences weightless<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1094],"tags":[1103,1129,1128],"class_list":["post-89034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-upsc-nda-2","tag-1103","tag-mechanics","tag-physics","no-featured-image-padding"],"yoast_head":"\nAn astronaut whose weight on the Earth is 600 N experiences weightless<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The correct answer is B. An astronaut experiences weightlessness on the International Space Station (ISS) because the normal reaction force from the space station floor on the astronaut is zero. - Weight is the force exerted on an object due to gravity. On Earth, we feel our weight because of the normal force exerted by the surface supporting us, which balances gravity. - The ISS and everything in it, including the astronaut, are constantly in freefall around the Earth. They are orbiting because they have a high tangential velocity while simultaneously accelerating towards the Earth due to gravity. - In freefall, there is no supporting surface providing a normal reaction force to counteract gravity. The feeling of weight comes from this reaction force. Since this support force is absent, the astronaut feels weightless. - The gravitational pull of Earth on the astronaut is not zero in orbit; it is still significant (around 90% of Earth's surface gravity at ISS altitude) and is what keeps the ISS in orbit. - The astronaut is accelerating towards the Earth (centripetal acceleration required for circular motion), so their acceleration is not zero. - Centrifugal force is a fictitious force experienced in a rotating frame of reference; it's not a real force causing weightlessness.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/an-astronaut-whose-weight-on-the-earth-is-600-n-experiences-weightless\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An astronaut whose weight on the Earth is 600 N experiences weightless\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The correct answer is B. An astronaut experiences weightlessness on the International Space Station (ISS) because the normal reaction force from the space station floor on the astronaut is zero. - Weight is the force exerted on an object due to gravity. On Earth, we feel our weight because of the normal force exerted by the surface supporting us, which balances gravity. - The ISS and everything in it, including the astronaut, are constantly in freefall around the Earth. They are orbiting because they have a high tangential velocity while simultaneously accelerating towards the Earth due to gravity. - In freefall, there is no supporting surface providing a normal reaction force to counteract gravity. The feeling of weight comes from this reaction force. Since this support force is absent, the astronaut feels weightless. - The gravitational pull of Earth on the astronaut is not zero in orbit; it is still significant (around 90% of Earth's surface gravity at ISS altitude) and is what keeps the ISS in orbit. - The astronaut is accelerating towards the Earth (centripetal acceleration required for circular motion), so their acceleration is not zero. - Centrifugal force is a fictitious force experienced in a rotating frame of reference; it's not a real force causing weightlessness.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/an-astronaut-whose-weight-on-the-earth-is-600-n-experiences-weightless\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MCQ and Quiz for Exams\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-01T07:28:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rawan239\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"rawan239\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"An astronaut whose weight on the Earth is 600 N experiences weightless","description":"The correct answer is B. An astronaut experiences weightlessness on the International Space Station (ISS) because the normal reaction force from the space station floor on the astronaut is zero. - Weight is the force exerted on an object due to gravity. On Earth, we feel our weight because of the normal force exerted by the surface supporting us, which balances gravity. - The ISS and everything in it, including the astronaut, are constantly in freefall around the Earth. They are orbiting because they have a high tangential velocity while simultaneously accelerating towards the Earth due to gravity. - In freefall, there is no supporting surface providing a normal reaction force to counteract gravity. The feeling of weight comes from this reaction force. Since this support force is absent, the astronaut feels weightless. - The gravitational pull of Earth on the astronaut is not zero in orbit; it is still significant (around 90% of Earth's surface gravity at ISS altitude) and is what keeps the ISS in orbit. - The astronaut is accelerating towards the Earth (centripetal acceleration required for circular motion), so their acceleration is not zero. - Centrifugal force is a fictitious force experienced in a rotating frame of reference; it's not a real force causing weightlessness.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/an-astronaut-whose-weight-on-the-earth-is-600-n-experiences-weightless\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"An astronaut whose weight on the Earth is 600 N experiences weightless","og_description":"The correct answer is B. An astronaut experiences weightlessness on the International Space Station (ISS) because the normal reaction force from the space station floor on the astronaut is zero. - Weight is the force exerted on an object due to gravity. On Earth, we feel our weight because of the normal force exerted by the surface supporting us, which balances gravity. - The ISS and everything in it, including the astronaut, are constantly in freefall around the Earth. They are orbiting because they have a high tangential velocity while simultaneously accelerating towards the Earth due to gravity. - In freefall, there is no supporting surface providing a normal reaction force to counteract gravity. The feeling of weight comes from this reaction force. Since this support force is absent, the astronaut feels weightless. - The gravitational pull of Earth on the astronaut is not zero in orbit; it is still significant (around 90% of Earth's surface gravity at ISS altitude) and is what keeps the ISS in orbit. - The astronaut is accelerating towards the Earth (centripetal acceleration required for circular motion), so their acceleration is not zero. - Centrifugal force is a fictitious force experienced in a rotating frame of reference; it's not a real force causing weightlessness.","og_url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/an-astronaut-whose-weight-on-the-earth-is-600-n-experiences-weightless\/","og_site_name":"MCQ and Quiz for Exams","article_published_time":"2025-06-01T07:28:07+00:00","author":"rawan239","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"rawan239","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/an-astronaut-whose-weight-on-the-earth-is-600-n-experiences-weightless\/","url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/an-astronaut-whose-weight-on-the-earth-is-600-n-experiences-weightless\/","name":"An astronaut whose weight on the Earth is 600 N experiences weightless","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-06-01T07:28:07+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-01T07:28:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#\/schema\/person\/5807dafeb27d2ec82344d6cbd6c3d209"},"description":"The correct answer is B. An astronaut experiences weightlessness on the International Space Station (ISS) because the normal reaction force from the space station floor on the astronaut is zero. - Weight is the force exerted on an object due to gravity. On Earth, we feel our weight because of the normal force exerted by the surface supporting us, which balances gravity. - The ISS and everything in it, including the astronaut, are constantly in freefall around the Earth. They are orbiting because they have a high tangential velocity while simultaneously accelerating towards the Earth due to gravity. - In freefall, there is no supporting surface providing a normal reaction force to counteract gravity. The feeling of weight comes from this reaction force. 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