DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL

INDIRA NAGR LUCKNOW

CLASS XI PHYSICS
MCQ BASED ASSIGNMENT
UNIT – 6 Gravitation

CASE STUDY BASED QUESTIONS:

Gravitation or just gravity is the force of attraction between any two bodies.
All the objects in the universe attract each other with a certain amount of
force, but in most of the cases, the force is too weak to be observed due to
the very large distance of separation. Besides, gravity’s range is infinite but
the effect becomes weaker as objects move away.
Newton's law of universal gravitation states that every particle attracts
every other particle in the universe with a force which is directly
proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to
the square of the distance between their centers.

1. Newton’s law of gravitation is valid for

A. small bodies only B. planets only

C. both small and big bodies D. only valid for solar system

2. A person on the moon can jump higher than on the Earth as

(а) the moon has rough surface.
(b) the moon is cooler than Earth.
(c) the value of ‘g’ on the moon is smaller than that on the Earth.
(d) there is almost no atmosphere on the moon.

3. The weight of a body is 120 N on the earth. If it is taken to the moon, its
weight will be about

(a) 120 N (b) 60 N

(c) 20 N (d) 720 N

4. Two satellites are orbiting around the Earth in circular orbits of the same
radius. The mass of satellite A is five times greater than the mass of
satellite B. Their periods of revolution are in the ratio
A. 1: 1 B. 1: 10

C. 5: 1 D. 1: 5

5. The mass of the Earth is 81 times that of the Moon and the radius of the
Earth is 3.5 times that of the Moon. The ratio of the acceleration due to
gravity at the surface of the Moon to that at the surface of the Earth is

A. 0.15 B. 0.04

C. 1 D. 6

Assertion and Reason type Questions:

6. Assertion : The acceleration due to gravity on the moon is one-sixth that on
the earth.
Reason : The law of gravitation is the same on both the moon and the earth.

7. Assertion: The difference in the value of acceleration due to gravity at

pole and equator is proportional to square of angular velocity of earth.

Reason: The value of acceleration due to gravity is minimum at the equator

and maximum at the pole.

8. Assertion: A satellite moves around the earth in a circular orbit under the
action of gravity. A person in the satellite experience a zero gravity field in
the satellite.

Reason: The contact force by the surface on the person is zero.

9. Assertion: The time period of geostationary satellite is 24 hours.

Reason: Geostationary satellite must have the same time period as the time
taken by the earth to complete one revolution about its axis.

10. Assertion: Smaller the orbit of the planet around the sun, shorter is the
time it takes to complete one revolution.

Reason: According to Kepler’s third law of planetary motion, square of time

period is proportional to cube of mean distance from sun.
11. Assertion: A body loses weight when it is at the centre of the earth.
Reason: At the centre of earth, g = 0. Therefore, weight = mg = 0.

12. Assertion : If earth suddenly stops rotating about its axis, then the
value of acceleration due to gravity will become same at all the places.
Reason : The value of acceleration due to gravity depends upon the
rotation of the earth.

13. Assertion: The value of acceleration due to gravity i.e. ‘g’ is different at
different places on the surface of earth.
Reason: Earth is flattened at poles and bulging out at the equator.
Therefore radius is smaller at poles and larger at equator and g α 1/R2, so, g
is smaller at equator than at poles.

14. Assertion : Moon travellers tie heavy weight at their back before landing
on the moon.
Reason : The acceleration due to gravity on moon is smaller than that of
earth.

15. Assertion : For the planets orbiting around the sun, angular speed,
linear speed and K.E. changes with time, but angular momentum remains
constant.
Reason : No torque is acting on the rotating planet. So its angular
momentum is constant.

16. Assertion : Gravitational potential of earth at every place on it is

negative.
Reason : Every body on earth is bound by the attraction of earth.

17. Assertion: Planets appear to move slower when they are farther from
the sun than when they are nearer.
Reason: All planets move in elliptical orbits with sun at one of the foci of
the ellipse.

Multiple Choice Questions:

18. If the density of Earth is doubled keeping its radius constant then
acceleration due to gravity will become (the present value is 9,8 ms-2)
(a) 9.8 ms-2 (b) 4.9 ms-2
(c) 19.6 ms-2 (d) 2.45 ms-2
19. A satellite is orbiting around the Earth with a period T. If the Earth
suddenly shrinks to half its radius without change in mass, the period of
revolution of the satellite will be
(a) T (b) T / 2
(c) T / √2 (d) 2T

20. A projectle is fired with a velocity less than the escape velocity. What
can we say about the sum of its potential and kinetic energies?
(a) Negative (b) Positive
(c) Zero (d) May be +ve, -ve or zero

21. At what height above the surface of Earth of radius R will the
acceleration due to gravity be reduced by 0.1%?
(a) R / 100 (b) R / 200
(c) R / 1000 (d) R / 2000

22. A bail of weight W is thrown vertically upwards. The apparent w eight

during the upward motion will be
(a) zero (b) more than W
(c) less than W (d) W

23. What percentage of the potential energy is gained by the body in rising
through a height equal to the radius of the Earth assuming that the
gravitational potential energy of a body infinite distance away from Earth is
zero.
(a) 1% (b) 10%
(c) 50% (d) 20%

24. Which of the following is the evidence to show that there must be a
force acting on Earth directed towards the Sun.
(a) revolution of Earth around the Sun.
(b) apparent motion of Sun around the Earth.
(c) duration of falling bodies towards Earth.
(d) phenomenon of day and night.

25. A body weighs 500 N on the surface of the earth. How much would it
weight half way below the surface of the earth?
(a) 1000 N (b) 500 N
(c) 250 N (d) 125 N
26. The radius of the earth is 6400 km and g = 10 m/s². In order that a body
of 5 kg weighs zero at the equator, the angular speed of the earth is
(a) 1/80 rad /s (b) 1/400 rad /s
(c) 1/800 rad /s (d) 1/1600 rad /s

27. If a body of mass m is taken out from a point below the surface of earth
equal to half the radius of earth, R, to a height R above the earth‘s surface,
then work done on it will be
(a) (5/6) mgR (b) (6/7) mgR
(c) (7/8) mgR (d) (8/9) mgR

28. A artificial satellite moving in a circular orbit around the earth has a
total (kinetic + potential) energy E0. Its potential energy is
(a) 2 E0 (b) E0
(c) 1.5 E0 (d) - E0

29. The escape velocity for a body projected vertically upwards from the
surface of the earth is nearly 11 km/s. If the body is projected at an angle of
450 with the vertical, the escape velocity will be
(a) 11/√2 km/s (b) 11√2 km/s
(c) 2 km/s (d) the same

30. There is no atmosphere on the moon because

(a) it is closer to the earth
(b) it revolves round the earth
(c) it gets light from the sun
(d) the escape velocity of gas molecules is less than their root mean square
velocity here

31. The masses of two planets are in the ratio 1 : 2. Their radii are in the
ratio 1 : 2. The acceleration due to gravity on the planets are in the ratio.
(a) 1 : 2 (b) 2 : 1
(c) 3 : 5 (d) 5 : 3

32. A body is projected vertically from the surface of the earth of radius R
with velocity equal to half of the escape velocity. The maximum height
reached by the body is
(a) R (b) R/2
(c) R/3 (d) R/4