Chapter 13, Problem 7A

How does the force of gravity depend on the distance between two objects?

To determine

To explain: The relation between the force of gravity and the distance between the two objects.

Answer to Problem 7A

Force of gravity between two objects is inversely related to the square of the distance between them.

Explanation of Solution

Introduction:

Gravitational force is the attractive force between any two bodies that are having mass. This force is always attractive because it continuously attempts to pull the bodies together and never tries to push them away from each other. If $A$ and $B$ are the two objects having masses $m_A$ and $m_B$ respectively which are separated by a distance $r$ , then the expression for gravitational force can be written as,

  $F\text{ = G}\frac{m_A{m}_B}{r^2}$

Where $\text{ G}$ is gravitational constant, $\text{ G}=6.674\times {10}^{-11}\text{ N}\cdot {\text{m}}^2/{\text{kg}}^2$

The expression for force of gravity clearly indicates that, the force of gravity between two objects is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. That means the force of gravity is more for smaller separation than that for longer separation between the objects having constant masses.