[cripplecreek]

I'm curious if the gravity of a planet is affected by it's density. I know our gas giants aren't very dense yet they have extremely strong gravitational fields. Or is mass more of a factor than density?

[The_Victor]

Gravitational pull is purely a function of mass and distance.

[Junior]

I'm curious if the gravity of a planet is affected by it's density.

Gravity's affected by the planet's mass. Density is the mass per unit of volume, so they are related. Remember, Saturn has a density of less than 1 (the density of water) while Earth's density is 5 and some change. However, Saturn has a higher "surface" gravity than Earth because it is so much bigger.

[El Gato]

I'm curious if the gravity of a planet is affected by it's density. I know our gas giants aren't very dense yet they have extremely strong gravitational fields. Or is mass more of a factor than density?

The gravity field is dependent only on the mass. However the surface gravity is dependent on both the mass and the radius of the planet. The less dense planet will have a larger radius, by the cube root of the density ratio. It's surface gravity will be lower by the square of the cube root of the density ratio.

[brownsfan]

Gravity is directly proportional to mass. Density has nothing to do with the equation. Gas giants have high gravity because even though they aren't dense, there's a lot of mass involved.

[Squawk 8888]

I'm curious if the gravity of a planet is affected by it's density

The short answer is yes. Gravity is a function of the mass of the body and the distance from the centre of mass. Therefore the surface of a less dense planet would be further from the centre of mass and gravity at the surface would therefore be lower.

[inquest]

To sum up all the responses you've gotten to your query: The gravity at the surface of a planet works out to be directly proportional to both its density and diameter.

[m87339]

I'm curious if the gravity of a planet is affected by it's density. I know our gas giants aren't very dense yet they have extremely strong gravitational fields. Or is mass more of a factor than density?

Post #6 pretty much answers those questions. It depicts a very dense gas giant ;)