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 halved?
It doubles
It halves
It remains the same
It becomes zero
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
How does the gravitational force between two objects change if the mass of one object is halved?
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 halve the mass of one object (let's say m1 becomes m1/2), we can rewrite the formula as F' = G * ((m1/2) * m2) / r^2.
Step 4: Notice that (m1/2) * m2 is half of m1 * m2, so the new force F' is half of the original force F.
Step 5: Conclude that halving the mass of one object results in halving 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 gravitational force, G is the gravitational constant, m1 and m2 are the masses of the objects, and r is the distance between their centers.
Proportionality – The gravitational force is directly proportional to the product of the masses of the two objects.
