Question

What happens to the force of attraction when: 1. Distance is doubled 2. Masses are doubled 3. Distance is reduced by half ?

Answer 1

Please see below.

Explanation:

It appears that you are talking about gravitational force of attraction between two objects.

Force of gravitation between two objects is

• directly proportional to the product of the masses of the objects

(2) As such when both the masses are doubled, their product will become `4` times. Hence force of attraction will be quadrupled.

• inversely proportional to the square of distance between them

(1) When distance between objects is doubled, force of attraction will become `1/2^2=1/4` times i.e. will become one-fourth.

(3) When distance between objects is halved, force of attraction will become `1/(1/2)^2=1/(1/4)=4` times i.e. will become four times.