Most Americans don't know the answer to this question

If a pen is dropped on a moon, will it:
A) Float away
B) Float where it is
C) Fall to the surface of the moon
D) All of the above

LINK

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So a bunch of us TA's got together and gave our physics classes quizzes asking this question. Out of 168 people taking the quiz, 48 missed the question. The responses are below. Some people didn't write comments. The spelling and grammar were not changed, however, clarifying comments are enclosed in []'s.

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Physics 324 - Modern Physics for Engineers responses

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"A body is at rest tends to stay at rest, plus there's no gravity"

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"The gravity of the moon can be said to be negligible, and also the moon's a vacuum, there is no external force on the pen. Therefore it will float where it is."

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"The pen will float away because the gravitational pull of the moon, being approximately 1/6 that of the earth, will not be enough to cause the pen to fall nor remain stationary where it is. The gravatational pull of other objects would influence the pen"

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Physics 111 - First semester Non-calculus Physic

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"There is no gravitational force on the moon, the pen therefore has no weight so its mass has no effect on 'where it goes'. Plus, you know, there is no wind to blow the pen up there! =)"

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OT Do you know the answer thread

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"A pen ain't a feather, bro."

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"Do all moons in the solar system have the same gravity as "our" moon? Flawed question. All answers could be in play? "

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"Scruffy is right. The question implies an answer for all moons in the universe. There are cases where given bodies gravitational pulls might result in any of the answers A-C (think microgravity, to conceptualize)".

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