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Two masses are separated by a distance r. If this distance is doubled, is the force of interaction between the two masses doubled, halved, or changed by some other amount? explain

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If the interaction is gravitational or electrical, it gets multiplied by (1/2-squared) or 1/4 .

User Jonathan Oliver
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Newton's law of universal gravitation states that every particle attracts every other particle in the universe with a force which is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers.

This is mathematically represented as

F= (G X m1 x m2) /r∧2

where F is the force acting between the charged particles

r is the distance between the two charges measured in m

G is the gravitational constant which has a value of 6.674×10^-11 Nm^2 kg^-2

m1 and m2 are the masses of the objects measured in Kg

Now if the distance between the is doubled then r becomes 2r. Substituting this in the above formula we get the new Force as

Force (new) = (G X m1 x m2) /(2r)∧2


Thus dividing Force(new)/Force we get

Force(new)/Force = 1/4.

Thus the gravitational force becomes 1/4th of the original value if the distance between the two masses are doubled.




User Haren
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