This Is How Much You’d Weigh On Saturn

Written by Nilani Thiyagarajah
Published: August 26, 2022
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Have you ever thought about what it would be like to live on another planet? There are so many amazing things to do and see right here on Earth, but you might be curious about what it would be like to live on, say, Saturn.

What most people think of when they think of Saturn are the rings. Even though there are other planets that have rings, Saturn’s are the most visible and pronounced.

Of course, assuming it’s even possible, life on Saturn would be very different than life here. To learn more about how different it would be, including how much you’d weigh on Saturn, keep reading!

How Much Would You Weigh on Saturn?

Saturn

On Saturn, people and objects would weigh 107% of their weight on Earth.

©iStock.com/forplayday

Saturn is considered a gas planet, meaning it’s a planet that is composed mostly of gases. Because of this, it doesn’t really have a solid surface on which anyone can stand. However, let’s say you could stand on the surface of Saturn. You would weigh about 107% of what you do on Earth. For example, a 200-pound person would weigh 214 pounds on Saturn.

Here’s a table showing how much people of different masses would weigh on Saturn (rounded to the nearest whole number):

Weight on EarthWeight on Saturn
100 pounds107 pounds
105 pounds112 pounds
110 pounds118 pounds
115 pounds123 pounds
120 pounds128 pounds
125 pounds134 pounds
130 pounds139 pounds
135 pounds144 pounds
140 pounds150 pounds
145 pounds155 pounds
150 pounds161 pounds
155 pounds166 pounds
160 pounds171 pounds
165 pounds177 pounds
170 pounds182 pounds
175 pounds187 pounds
180 pounds193 pounds
185 pounds198 pounds
190 pounds203 pounds
195 pounds209 pounds
200 pounds214 pounds
205 pounds219 pounds
210 pounds225 pounds
215 pounds230 pounds
220 pounds235 pounds
225 pounds241 pounds
230 pounds246 pounds
235 pounds251 pounds
240 pounds257 pounds

How Is Weight on Saturn Determined?

It’s vital to understand the difference between mass and weight if you want to understand why you would weigh more on Saturn than on Earth. Your mass is a measure of the amount of matter in your body. Your weight, as you know, is a measure of the amount of attraction between your body and Earth’s center.

There is an equation that makes it possible for us to calculate how much we would weigh on a different planet. This equation is as follows: F=Mm/r2. It was derived by Sir Isaac Newton, with M being the mass of the planet, m being the mass of your body, and r being the distance between your body and the center of the planet.

Saturn is the second largest planet in the solar system, with only Jupiter exceeding its size (Jupiter has three times the mass of Saturn). In fact, Saturn is about 80% of the volume of Jupiter. It is also 95 times the mass of Earth.

The radius of Saturn is not uniform all over the planet. Because Saturn rotates so rapidly, the planet is slightly flattened at the poles and bulges somewhat at the equator. This is somewhat the case for all of the gas giants in our solar system, but this shape is more pronounced on Saturn.

The polar radius of Saturn is approximately 90% of the equatorial radius. The mean radius of Saturn is 36,184 miles or 58,232 kilometers.

Despite the mass of Saturn, it has an extremely low density (the lowest density of any planet in the solar system). As such, the volume and the radius are very high as well. Effectively, these factors mostly cancel each other out so that your weights on both planets are relatively close.

What Would Other Things Weigh on Saturn?

Any object you can think of would weigh 107% on Saturn what it does on Earth.

For example, a mid-size car, which weighs roughly 3,000 to 3,500 pounds on Earth, would weigh between 3,210 and 3,745 pounds on Saturn. A standard basketball, 22 ounces (1 pound, 6 ounces) on Earth, would weigh 23.5 ounces (1 pound, 7.5 ounces) on Saturn. A gallon of milk, which would weigh 8.6 ounces here, would weigh a little bit more on Saturn – 9.2 ounces.

All you need to do is take the weight of whatever object is on your mind, multiply it by a factor of 1.07, and you’ll see how much it would weigh on Saturn.

How Much Does Saturn Weigh?

Saturn has a mass of 5.683 × 10

26

kilograms, or 1.253 × 10

27

pounds – about 95 times the mass of Earth.

©iStock.com/Elen11

The mass of Saturn is 5.683 × 1026 kilograms, or 1.253 × 1027 pounds, 95 times the mass of our planet. Although Saturn is about one-third the mass of Jupiter, it is 80% of Jupiter’s volume. Moreover, the density of Saturn is extremely low, more so than any other planet in the solar system at 0.687 grams per cubic centimeter.

In fact, scientists believe that if Saturn was suspended in a large enough pool of water, the planet would float!

Saturn is mostly composed of hydrogen and helium. However, there are also traces of ice on the planet, which are made of water, methane, and ammonia. There is very little distinction between the atmosphere and surface of this planet.

Scientists consider the “surface” of Saturn to start at the point where the pressure is more than one bar, which is approximately the pressure at sea level on Earth. Below this surface, pressures increase, and hydrogen turns into liquid. As you go further into the planet, liquefied hydrogen becomes metallic hydrogen.

Scientists believe that Saturn has a rocky core that is surrounded by gases. The temperature can go up to 21,000° Fahrenheit in this core, and research suggests that the core itself is 9 to 22 times the mass of Earth.

Could Any Life Survive on Saturn?

Due to extreme temperatures, pressures, and winds, Saturn is not hospitable to life as we know it.

©iStock.com/EzumeImages

As we already mentioned, Saturn is a giant gas planet. It has no solid surface for life to be able to sustain itself. The upper layers of the planet are made mostly of hydrogen and helium.

As you go further in, the pressure gets so high that the gas is compressed into a liquid. Even deeper, there’s a dense core of rocky materials and metals. Technically, this is a solid surface, but the extreme pressure and heat are not conducive to life at all.

Around the area that is considered to be the surface of Saturn, the temperature is about -285° Fahrenheit. While this is to be expected, as Saturn is about 886 million miles from the Sun, this is not a temperature that supports any kind of life as we know it.

In addition, the upper atmosphere of Saturn has winds that go up to 1,600 feet per second. The strongest wind that was ever recorded on Earth was about 253 mph, and it was a hurricane wind!

As far as scientists know, there is no life on Saturn and never has been. However, Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, just might.

Titan actually exhibits many similarities to Earth. It has an atmosphere, vast oceans (though they’re made of methane), and organic compounds.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © iStock.com/Elen11


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