Question

According to Newton's law of universal gravitation, the force F between two bodies of constant mass m and M is given by the formula F = G m M d 2 , where G is the gravitational constant and d is the distance between the bodies. a. Suppose that are constants. Find the rate of change of force F with respect to distance d .

Answer 1

One can write F = K d^-2 where K = G M m

So dF/dd = -2 K d^-3 = -2 K / d^3 (As d increases F decreases - it is opposite to the direction of F)