Question

What is the force of gravitational attraction between an object with a mass of 100 kg and another object that has a mass of 300 kg and are at a distance of 2m apart

Answer 1

5 x 10⁻⁷N

Explanation:

Given parameters:

Mass of object 1 = 100kg

Mass of object 2 = 300kg

Distance = 2m

Unknown:

Force of gravitational attraction between the objects = ?

Solution:

Newton's law of universal gravitation states that the gravitational force between two bodies is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

From Newton's law of universal gravitation we derive an expression:

Fg =
`(Gm_(1) m_(2) )/(r^(2) )`

G is the universal gravitation constant = 6.67 x 10⁻¹¹

m is the mass

r is the distance between the bodies

Now insert the parameters and solve;

Fg = 6.67 x 10⁻¹¹ x
`(100 x 300)/(2^(2) )` = 5 x 10⁻⁷N