How does the gravitational force between two objects change if the mass of one o
Practice Questions
Q1
How does the gravitational force between two objects change if the mass of one object is tripled?
It triples
It doubles
It remains the same
It increases by a factor of nine
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
How does the gravitational force between two objects change if the mass of one object is tripled?
Step 1: Understand that gravitational force depends on the masses of 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 centers of the two objects.
Step 3: If we have two objects with masses m1 and m2, the gravitational force is calculated using their current masses.
Step 4: Now, if we triple the mass of one object (let's say m1 becomes 3 * m1), we can substitute this into the formula.
Step 5: The new gravitational force will be F' = G * (3 * m1 * m2) / r^2.
Step 6: Notice that the new force F' is three times the original force F, because we have tripled one of the masses.
Step 7: Therefore, tripling the mass of one object results in tripling the gravitational force between the two objects.
Gravitational Force – The gravitational force between two objects is determined by the formula F = G * (m1 * m2) / r^2, where F is the force, G is the gravitational constant, m1 and m2 are the masses of the objects, and r is the distance between their centers.
Direct Proportionality – The gravitational force is directly proportional to the product of the masses involved, meaning if one mass increases, the force increases proportionally.
