A student claims that the gravitational force between two objects depends upon the mass of the objects and the distance between them. Which argument best supports the student's claim?

Responses

If the distance between two objects increases, the gravitational force between the objects will decrease.
If the distance between two objects increases, the gravitational force between the objects will decrease.

If the distance between two objects decreases, the gravitational force between the objects will not change
If the distance between two objects decreases, the gravitational force between the objects will not change

If the distance between two objects increases, the gravitational force between the objects will increase.
If the distance between two objects increases, the gravitational force between the objects will increase.

If the distance between two objects decreases, the gravitational force between the objects will disappear.

The argument that best supports the student's claim is: "If the distance between two objects increases, the gravitational force between the objects will decrease." This is because the gravitational force between two objects is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them, meaning that as the distance between the objects increases, the force of gravity between them decreases. Additionally, the mass of the two objects also affects the magnitude of the gravitational force, where larger masses result in a greater gravitational force.

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The argument that best supports the student's claim is: "If the distance between two objects increases, the gravitational force between the objects will decrease."

The argument that best supports the student's claim is:

"If the distance between two objects increases, the gravitational force between the objects will decrease."

To understand this argument, we need to consider Newton's law of universal gravitation, which states that the gravitational force between two objects is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

Mathematically, this can be expressed as:

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 two objects, and r is the distance between them.

Now, if we focus on the relationship between the distance and the gravitational force, we can see that as the distance (r) between two objects increases, the denominator (r^2) gets larger. Since the gravitational force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance, a larger denominator would result in a smaller force. Therefore, if the distance between two objects increases, the gravitational force between them will decrease.

It's important to note that the masses of the objects also play a role in determining the gravitational force. The student's claim acknowledges this by stating that the gravitational force depends on the mass of the objects as well as the distance between them.