You are given the masses and I know to calculate the one in the middle, you use F=Gm1m2/R^2 but how do I find the gravitational value for the objects on the outside since there is only one mass acting on it, is it zero? And I know the distances from the middle to the outside one on each side. Any help would be appreciated.
2006-10-09 09:22:53 · 1 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
You seemed to have missed a basic point. You have 3 masses. You have the equation to calculate the gravitational force that a pair of masses exerts on each other. You have 3 pairs of masses. You can now calculate the net gravitational force on each, taking care with the direction and sign of each force. This isn't the very complicated gravitational problem called the 3-body problem. They are all at rest, so the distances among them are not changing.
2006-10-09 10:43:10 · answer #1 · answered by Frank N 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋