5 Physics Questions Concerning Gravity?

Question

6. Two spacecraft in outer space attract each other with a force of 20 N. What would the attractive force be if they were one-half as apart?



8. The gravitational force between two very large metal spheres in outer space is 50 N. How large would this force be if the mass of each sphere were cut in half?




10. How does the Earth’s gravitational force on you differ when you are standing on Earth and when you are riding in a space shuttle 400 km above Earth’s surface? Earth’s radius is 6400 km.




16. The acceleration due to gravity on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, is about 1.4 m/s/s. What would a 50-kg scientific instrument weigh on Titan?



22. By what factor is Earth’s gravitational field reduced at a distance of 5 Earth radii from the center of the Earth?

Answer 1

You can answer 6, 8, 10, and 22 by using the fact that the force of gravity varies inversely as the square of the distance: halve the distance, force goes up by a factor of 4.

For 16, you should know that on earth, g = 9.8 m/sec^2. The weight will vary directly as the value of g