Question

Your friend tells you that if you double the distance of a spacecraft from the planet, the gravitational force is one half as strong. Do you think this is correct?

Answer 1

No. When the distance is doubled, the gravitational force is 1/4 times as strong, therefore, the correct answer is she is not correct

Step-by-step explanation:

The gravitational force is given as follows;

`F} =G * (m_(1) * m_(2))/(r^(2))`

Where;

m₁, and m₂ are the masses sharing the gravitational field

G = The universal gravitational constant

r = The distance between the centers of the two masses

Therefore, when the new distance, R = 2 × r, we get;

`F} =G * (m_(1) * m_(2))/(R^(2)) = G * (m_(1) * m_(2))/((2 * r)^(2)) = G * (m_(1) * m_(2))/(4 * r^(2)) = (1)/(4) * G * (m_(1) * m_(2))/(r^(2))`

Therefore, when the distance is doubled, the gravitational force is one fourth as strong, therefore, she is not correct.