Learning Goal: To understand Newton's law of universal gravitation and be able to apply it in two-object situations and (collinear) three-object situations; to distinguish between the use of G and g. In the late 1600s, Isaac Newton proposed a rule to quantify the attractive force known as gravity between objects that have mass. such as those shown in the figure. (Eigure 1) Newton's law of universal gravitation describes the magnitude of the attractive gravitational force F between two objects with masses my and m₂ as Fx = G(mm²) where r is the distance between the centers of the two objects and G is the gravitational constant. The gravitational force is attractive, so in the figure it pulls to the right on m1 (toward m2) and toward the left on m2 (toward m₁). The gravitational force acting on my is equal in magnitude to, but exactly opposite in direction from, the gravitational force acting on m2, as required by Newton's third law. The magnitude of both forces is calculated with the enuation niven above Figure A B + E <3 of 4 > There is no net force because neither the sun nor the earth attracts the probe gravitationally at the midpoint. There is no net force because the gravitational attractions on the probe due to the sun and the earth are equal in magnitude but point in opposite directions, so they cancel each other out. Submit Y ✓ Correct In calculating these forces, the mass of the probe is the same, as is the distance involved. However, the sun is over 300,000 times as massive as the earth. so at this location the probe is attracted much more strongly toward the sun than toward the earth. Perhaps the most-common gravitational calculation is to determine the "weight" of an object of mass m, sitting on the surface of the earth (i.e., the magnitude of the gravitational attraction between the earth and the object). According to Newton's law of universal gravitation, the gravitational force on the object is Previous Answers Gm₂ F₁ = G(mm) (m.), where me is the mass of the earth and re is the distance between the object and the center of the earth (i.e.. re= radius of the earth = 6.38 x 10³ km). Part F What is the value of the composite constant. (Gm.), to be multiplied by the mass of the object m., in the equation above? Express your answer numerically in meters per second per second. 1971 ΑΣΦ 3 Provide Feedback → C B) ? Submit Request Answer mo. m/s² Next >