Question

What is meant by acceleration due to gravity(g) and explain how ‘g’ varies on the moon with respect to the earth.

Answer 1

Hint: Astronauts on the moon can jump higher than on the Earth.

Complete answer:
The acceleration due to gravity (g) is the force by which an object attracts another object towards its center per unit mass of the latter. It depends on the mass of the first object and the distance between the centers of the two objects.
$\text{g=}\dfrac{\text{GM}}{{{\text{r}}^{\text{2}}}}$
Where g is the acceleration due to gravity, M is the mass of the first object and r is the distance between the centers of the two objects. G is the gravitational constant with value 6.673×10-11 $N{m^2}{Kg^{-2}}$.
Putting in the mass of the moon and its equatorial radius, the value of g on the moon comes out to be about one-sixth of the value of g on the earth.
Thus, the value of g on the surface of the moon is smaller than that on earth

Additional information:
Due to the fact that the value of g on the surface of the moon is about one-sixth of the value on earth, you would weigh about one sixth of your actual weight on earth if you were on the moon. Thus, if a person weighs 720 N on the earth, he would weigh about 120 N on the moon however his mass would not change.
Thus, you can even jump about six times higher than what you could jump on the earth.

Note:
Students might have heard that you experience zero gravity in space and may be tempted to think that the value of g on the moon will also be zero. However, that is not true. You experience zero gravity only when you orbit around a planet in a spaceship.