Question

HOMEWORK: The gravitational attractive force between two masses is F. If the masses are moved to half of their initial distance, what is the gravitational attractive force?A) 4FB) 2FC) F/2D) F/4

Answer 1

We know that the gravitational force between two masses is given by:

`F=G(mM)/(r^2)`

where r is the distance between the masses. If the distance is half of the original one, we have:

`\begin{gathered} F^(\prime)=G(mM)/(((r)/(2))^2) \\ F^(\prime)=G(mM)/((r^2)/(4)) \\ F^(\prime)=4(G(mM)/(r^2)) \\ F^(\prime)=4F \end{gathered}`

Therefore, the new force will be four times the original one and the answer is A.