Question

g. The mass of the earth is 6 x 1024 kg. The distance between the earth and the Sun is 1.5x 1011 m. If the gravitational force between the two is 3.5 x 1022 N, what is the mass of the Sun? Use G=6.7 x 10-11 N m² kg?​

Answer 1

Answer: mass of the sun is 1.96 × 10³⁰ kg

Explanation:

the mass of the earth, m = 6 × 10²⁴ kg

Assume the mass of the sun is M

distance between earth and sun , r = 1.5 × 10¹¹ m

force between sun and earth , F = 3.5 × 10²²  N

  use gravitational force formula,

                                             F = GMm/r²

3.5 × 10²² = 6.67 × 10⁻¹¹ × 6 × 10²⁴ M/(1.5 × 10¹¹)²

3.5 × 10²² × 2.25 × 10²²/(6.67 × 6 × 10¹³) = M

M = 0.196 × 10³¹ kg

hence, mass of the sun is 1.96 × 10³⁰ kg

Hope it helps.