Two small lead spheres

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

Problem

Two small lead spheres, one of mass

0.20\,\text{kg}

and the other

0.30\,\text{kg}

, are placed with their centres

0.50\,\text{m}

apart in a laboratory. The attractive force between them is found to be

8.0\times10^{-10}\,\text{N}

. (i) Calculate the experimental value of the gravitational constant

G

obtained from these data. (ii) The accepted value of

G

6.67\times10^{-11}\,\text{N\,m}^2/\text{kg}^2

. Find the percentage error in the experimental value.