A laboratory experiment measures the mutual gravitational force between two identical…

PHYSICS · Multi-part · A Level · Physics · Fields and their consequences · Fields and their consequences

Problem

A laboratory experiment measures the mutual gravitational force between two identical lead spheres for two different separations. • At separation r1=0.30 mr_1 = 0.30\,\text{m} the force is 8.0×10−10 N8.0\times10^{-10}\,\text{N}. • At separation r2=0.60 mr_2 = 0.60\,\text{m} the force is 2.0×10−10 N2.0\times10^{-10}\,\text{N}. (i) Show that the two measured forces are consistent with an inverse-square dependence on separation. (ii) Using either set of data, determine the mass of each lead sphere (take G=6.67×10−11 N m2/kg2G = 6.67\times10^{-11}\,\text{N m}^2\text{/kg}^2).

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