What happens to the gravitational force between two objects if one object's mass
Practice Questions
Q1
What happens to the gravitational force between two objects if one object's mass is tripled?
It triples
It halves
It remains the same
It increases by a factor of 9
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
What happens to the gravitational force between two objects if one object's mass is tripled?
Step 1: Understand that gravitational force depends on the masses of the two objects and the distance between them.
Step 2: Remember the formula for gravitational force: F = G * (m1 * m2) / r^2, where F is the force, G is the gravitational constant, m1 and m2 are the masses, and r is the distance between the objects.
Step 3: If one object's mass (let's say m1) is tripled, it becomes 3 * m1.
Step 4: Substitute the new mass into the formula: F' = G * (3 * m1 * m2) / r^2.
Step 5: Notice that the new force F' is three times the original force F, because F' = 3 * (G * (m1 * m2) / r^2) = 3 * F.
Step 6: Conclude that if one object's mass is tripled, the gravitational force between the two objects also triples.
