avity is an attractive force between any two objects in the universe. The force attracting any two bodies is proportional to the product of their masses and is inversely proportional to the squared distance between them. Below, the gravitational attraction is stronger for the right-most pair of objects because they are more massive and closer together.
Based on this information, what might happen to the gravitational attraction between the right-most pair of objects if they were moved farther apart?
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Answer:
Isaac Newton compared the acceleration of the moon to the acceleration of objects on earth. Believing that gravitational forces were responsible for each, Newton was able to draw an important conclusion about the dependence of gravity upon distance. This comparison led him to conclude that the force of gravitational attraction between the Earth and other objects is inversely proportional to the distance separating the earth's center from the object's center. But distance is not the only variable affecting the magnitude of a gravitational force. Consider Newton's famous equation
Fnet = m • a
Newton knew that the force that caused the apple's acceleration (gravity) must be dependent upon the mass of the apple. And since the force acting to cause the apple's downward acceleration also causes the earth's upward acceleration (Newton's third law), that force must also depend upon the mass of the earth. So for Newton, the force of gravity acting between the earth and any other object is directly proportional to the mass of the earth, directly proportional to the mass of the object, and inversely proportional to the square of the distance that separates the centers of the earth and the object.