Final answer:
Increasing the mass of one of two nearby objects increases the gravitational force between them, as gravitational force is directly proportional to the mass of the objects. In scenarios such as pushing objects or circular motion, greater mass also means greater resistance to changes in motion and the need for a larger centripetal force to maintain uniform motion, respectively.
Step-by-step explanation:
When two objects are near each other, increasing the mass of one object will affect the gravitational force between them. According to Newton's law of universal gravitation, the gravitational force is directly proportional to the product of the masses of the two objects and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers. Therefore, if you increase the mass of one object, the gravitational force between them will increase as well.
Gravitational mass and inertial mass are two concepts that explain different phenomena, yet in practical terms, they amount to the same thing. In the context of gravitational mass, more mass means greater gravitational forces. When considering inertial mass, greater mass means that an object will resist changes in its motion more than an object with less mass, as described by Newton's second law of motion. This is why, in a situation where two objects are pushed with the same force, the object with the lesser mass will accelerate more quickly.
If looking at scenarios such as a person wanting to weigh less, going to a place with less gravitational pull, such as the Moon or Mars, would result in weighing less without altering their mass. Weight is a measure of the force of gravity on an object, which varies with the strength of the gravitational field, while mass is a measure of the amount of matter in the object and does not change with location.
In the context of uniform circular motion, as the mass of an object increases while maintaining the same speed, the required centripetal force increases because it is directly proportional to the mass of the object in motion. This means that heavier objects need a stronger force to maintain a circular path at a constant speed.