Question

The gravitational force between the Sun (mass -1.99 1030 kg) and Mercury (mass 3.30 x 1023 kg) is 899 1021 N. How far is Mercury from the Sun?

Answer 1

B - 6.98 x 10^7 km

Step-by-step explanation:

took it on egde

Answer 2

The gravitational force between the two objects is given by:

`F=G (m_1 m_2)/(d^2)`
where

`G=8.99 \cdot 10^(-11) m^3 kg^(-1) s^(-2)` is the gravitational constant

`m_1 = 1.99 \cdot 10^(30) kg` is the Sun mass

`m_2 = 3.30 \cdot 10^(23) kg` is the mass of Mercury
and d is the distance between Sun and Mercury. Since we know the force:

`F=8.99 \cdot 10^(21) N`
we can re-arrange the formula to find d:

`d= \sqrt{ G (m_1 m_2)/(F) }=6.98 \cdot 10^(10)m`