Question

An apple falling from a tree always moves down. Similarly, any object dropped from a height falls towards Earth. The force responsible for this phenomenon is the gravitational force, which attracts any two objects with mass. According to the universal law of gravitation, the force of attraction between two objects of mass m1​ and m2​ separated by a distance r is given by: Fg​=g⋅m1​⋅m2​​/r², where g is the gravitational constant. Gravitational force is always attractive. What happens to the gravitational force between two masses separated by a distance if the value of one mass is halved?

a. The gravitational force doubles.

b. The gravitational force quadruples.

c. The gravitational force is divided by two.

d. The gravitational force is divided by four.

Answer 1

If one mass is halved, the gravitational force between the masses is divided by four.

Step-by-step explanation:

The gravitational force between two masses separated by a distance will be divided by four if the value of one mass is halved. According to Newton's universal law of gravitation, the force of attraction between two masses is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. So, if one of the masses is halved, the force of attraction will also be halved. And since the force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance, dividing the force by half will result in dividing it again by two, making it one-fourth of the original force.