What factors affect the gravitational force between objects?
Biology · Middle School · Mon Jan 18 2021
Answered on
The gravitational force between two objects is determined by two main factors: the masses of the objects and the distance between the centers of the two objects. This is described by Isaac Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation, which states that every point mass attracts every other point mass in the universe with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers.
Mathematically, the gravitational force (F) can be expressed as:
\[ F = G \frac{m_1 m_2}{r^2} \]
where: - \( F \) is the magnitude of the gravitational force between the two masses, - \( G \) is the gravitational constant (approximately \( 6.674 \times 10^{-11} \)Nm\(^2\)/kg\(^2\)), - \( m_1 \) and \( m_2 \) are the masses of the two objects, and - \( r \) is the distance between the centers of the two objects.
If you increase the mass of either object (or both), the force of gravity between them will increase. Likewise, if you decrease the distance between the objects, the gravitational force increases. Conversely, if you decrease the masses or increase the distance, the gravitational force will decrease.