Gravitational force is the attractive force between two masses, proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of their distance.
Class 11 Physics
Gravitation
CBSE EXAM 2024-25
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According to the law of universal gravitation, the gravitational force between two masses is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the centers of the two masses. This makes it easy to see how doubling the distance between two masses affects the gravitational force.
If the distance between the two masses is doubled to twice its previous value, it has a drastic effect on gravitational attraction. This means that the gravitational force will decrease to one-fourth of the original strength. This happens because the gravitational force decreases very fast with distance. The more distances the masses are pushed apart, the weaker the gravitational pull among them, hence making it hard for them to influence each other.
This principle is the foundation of understanding gravitational interactions in different contexts, including celestial mechanics, where distances between planets, moons, and stars can be vast. The decreasing gravitational force with distance has implications for space exploration, satellite orbits, and even the dynamics of galaxies. Ultimately, knowing how distance impacts gravitational attraction helps scientists predict the behavior of objects within gravitational fields across the universe.
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