Given below are two statements: one is labelled as Assertion A and the other is labelled as Reason R .…

Given below are two statements: one is labelled as Assertion A and the other is labelled as Reason R.

Assertion A: Earth has atmosphere whereas moon doesn’t have any atmosphere.

Reason R: The escape velocity on moon is very small as compared to that on earth.

In the light of the above statements, choose the correct answer from the options given below:

  1. Both A and R are correct but R is NOT the correct explanation of A

  2. A is false but R is true
  3. Both A and R are correct and R  is the correct explanation of A
  4. A is true but R is false

Solution

The formula to calculate the escape velocity is given by

ve=2gR   ...(1)

As both the acceleration and radius of the Moon is much less than that of the Earth, the value of the escape velocity in Moon is much less than that on the Earth.

The average velocity of gas molecules remains higher than the escape velocity due to the lower escape velocity on the moon's surface, making the moon unable to maintain an atmosphere.

Asked in: JEE Main 2023 (06 Apr Shift 1)

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