Question

Two objects have equal mass and are 1 meter away from each other. How much mass must each mass have to exert an interactive force of 1 N?

Answer 1

122406 kg = 135 US tons

Explanation:

Recall Newton's law of gravitation.

`F_i = (Gm_1m_2)/r^2`

And since `m_1 = m_2`, we can simply say

`F_i = (Gm_1^2)/r^2`

The radius is the distance between the two objects, and `F_i` is the desired interactive force.

`1 = (Gm_1^2)/1^2`

`1 = Gm_1^2`

Using `G` as the universal gravitational constant, or `6.67408 xx 10^-11 m^3kg`, you should get that `m_1 = 122406.4 kg`

This is approximately equal to `135` american tons.

Hopefully this helps!