How will the force of gravitational interaction between two material points change if the distance
How will the force of gravitational interaction between two material points change if the distance between them is increased by 3 times?
Given:
m1, m2 is the mass of two interacting bodies;
r2 = 3 * r1 – the distance between the two bodies was increased by 3 times.
It is required to determine F2 / F1 – how the force of gravitational interaction will change with increasing distance by 3 times.
The force of gravitational interaction in the first case will be equal to:
F1 = G * m1 * m2 / r1 ^ 2, where G is the gravitational constant.
In the second case, the force of interaction will be equal to:
F2 = G * m1 * m2 / r2 ^ 2 = G * m1 * m2 / (r1 * 3) ^ 2 = G * m1 * m2 / (9 * r1 ^ 2).
Then:
F2 / F1 = (G * m1 * m2 / (9 * r1 ^ 2)) / (G * m1 * m2 / r1 ^ 2) = 1/9, that is, it will decrease by 9 times.
Answer: with an increase in the distance between bodies by 3 times, the force of gravitational interaction will decrease by 9 times (there are no correct answers among those indicated in the condition of the problem).