Question

The Moon is about 400,000 km from the Earth. Using Newton's Law of Gravity how would the attraction between the Earth and Moon change if the

distance from the Earth was halved to 200,000 km?

Answer 1

Using Newton's Law of Gravity, if the distance between Earth and the Moon is halved, the gravitational attraction between them would increase by a factor of four.

Step-by-step explanation:

The attraction between the Earth and the Moon is governed by Newton's Law of Gravity, which states that the force between two masses is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers. According to this law, if the distance between the Earth and the Moon is halved from 400,000 km to 200,000 km, the gravitational attraction would increase by a factor of four. This is because halving the distance squares the inverse proportionality (1/2)2 = 1/4, thus if you invert it again to account for the attraction, it becomes four times greater.