Tom has a mass of 72.2 kg and Sally has a

mass of 49.4 kg. Tom and Sally are standing
17.4 m apart on a massless dance floor. Sally
looks up and she sees Tom. She feels an
attraction.
If the attraction is gravitation, find its magnitude. Assume both can be replaced by
spherical masses and that the gravitational
constant is 6.67259 × 10
−11
N · m2
/kg
2
.
Answer in units of N

F =G•m1•m2/R²

the gravitational constant G =6.67•10⁻¹¹ N•m²/kg²,

To calculate the magnitude of the gravitational attraction between Tom and Sally, we can use Newton's law of universal gravitation, which states that the force of attraction between two masses is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

The formula for gravitational attraction is:

F = (G * m1 * m2) / r^2

Where:
F is the magnitude of the gravitational attraction
G is the gravitational constant (6.67259 × 10^-11 N·m^2/kg^2)
m1 and m2 are the masses of the objects
r is the distance between the masses

In this case:
m1 = mass of Tom = 72.2 kg
m2 = mass of Sally = 49.4 kg
r = distance between Tom and Sally = 17.4 m

Plugging the values into the formula, we get:

F = (6.67259 × 10^-11 N·m^2/kg^2 * 72.2 kg * 49.4 kg) / (17.4 m)^2

Calculating this gives us the magnitude of the gravitational attraction, which is equal to:

F ≈ 1.71 N

So, the magnitude of the gravitational attraction between Tom and Sally is approximately 1.71 N.