Question

A spaceship which is 50,000 kilometers from the center of Earth has a mass of 3,000 kilograms. What is the magnitude of the force of gravity acting on the spaceship? (The value of G is 6.673 × 10-11 newton meter2/kilogram2. The mass of Earth is 5.98 × 1024 kilograms.)

Answer 1

The force of attraction between two objects is calculated by the equation,
F = G(m1)(m2) / d²
where G is the constant of acceleration, m1 and m2 are masses and d is the distance between objects. Substituting the known values,
F = (6.673x10^-11)(3000 kg)(5.98x10^24 kg) / (50000x10^3m)²
The value of F is approximately 478.85 N.