Two small laboratory spheres are placed a distance of apart (measured center to center)

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

Problem

Two small laboratory spheres are placed a distance of

0.50\,\text{m}

apart (measured center to center). One sphere has a mass of

2.0\,\text{kg}

. The magnitude of the gravitational attraction between the spheres is measured to be

0.12\,\text{N}

. Use

G=6.67\times10^{-11}\,\text{N}\!\cdot\!\text{m}^2/\text{kg}^2

. (a) Determine the mass of the second sphere. (b) If the center-to-center distance were reduced to

0.25\,\text{m}

, calculate the new magnitude of the gravitational force between the spheres.