How does the gravitational potential energy of a system of two masses change as they move closer together?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
How does the gravitational potential energy of a system of two masses change as they move closer together?
It increases.
It decreases.
It remains constant.
It becomes zero.
The gravitational potential energy decreases as the two masses move closer together.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: How does the gravitational potential energy of a system of two masses change as they move closer together?
Solution: The gravitational potential energy decreases as the two masses move closer together.
Steps: 5
Step 1: Understand what gravitational potential energy is. It is the energy stored in an object due to its position in a gravitational field.
Step 2: Recognize that gravitational potential energy depends on the distance between two masses. The formula is U = -G(m1*m2)/r, where U is potential energy, G is the gravitational constant, m1 and m2 are the masses, and r is the distance between them.
Step 3: Note that as the two masses move closer together, the distance r decreases.
Step 4: When r decreases, the value of -G(m1*m2)/r becomes more negative, which means the gravitational potential energy (U) decreases.
Step 5: Conclude that as the two masses get closer, their gravitational potential energy decreases.
