Explain- how would the gravitational force between Earth and the Moon change if the distance between them increased?
The force would get weaker.
To understand how the gravitational force between Earth and the Moon would change as the distance between them increases, we can refer to Newton's law of universal gravitation. According to this law, 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 their centers.
The formula for calculating the gravitational force is:
F = (G * m1 * m2) / r^2
Where:
- F represents the gravitational force
- G is the gravitational constant (approximately 6.67430 × 10^-11 m^3 kg^-1 s^-2)
- m1 and m2 are the masses of the two objects
- r is the distance between their centers
If we consider Earth (m1) and the Moon (m2), and assume that Earth's mass remains constant, we can analyze the effect of increasing the distance (r) between them on the gravitational force.
When the distance between two objects increases, the gravitational force decreases. This is because the force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance (r^2). As the denominator in the formula gets larger, the value of the gravitational force decreases.
For instance, if the distance between Earth and the Moon doubled, the gravitational force between them would decrease to one-fourth (1/2^2) of its original value. If the distance tripled, the force would decrease to one-ninth (1/3^2) of its original value, and so on.
Thus, as the distance between Earth and the Moon increases, the gravitational force acting between them decreases according to the inverse square law.