As the distance between two masses increases, the gravitational force of attraction between them
A. decreases***
B. increases
C. remains the same
Is this correct?
Yes
G m1 m2 / d^2
where d is the distance
Great, thank you:)
You are welcome.
Yes, your answer is correct. As the distance between two masses increases, the gravitational force of attraction between them decreases. This relationship is described by Newton's law of universal gravitation.
To understand why this is the case, let's take a closer look at the equation for gravitational force:
F = (G * m1 * m2) / r^2
Where:
F is the gravitational force of attraction
G is the gravitational constant
m1 and m2 are the masses of the two objects
r is the distance between the centers of the two objects
From this equation, it is evident that the gravitational force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the objects (r^2). This means that as the distance increases, the denominator in the equation gets larger, causing the overall force to decrease. Conversely, as the distance decreases, the force increases.
Therefore, option A - decreases, is the correct choice.