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Homework Statement
12. You are given a large collection of identical heavy balls and lightweight rods. When two balls are placed at the ends
of one rod and interact through their mutual gravitational attraction (as is shown on the left), the compressive
force in the rod is F. Next, three balls and three rods are placed at the vertexes and edges of an equilateral triangle
(as is shown on the right). What is the compressive force in each rod in the latter case?
(A) √1/3F
(B)√3 / 2 F
(C) F
(D)√3F
(E) 2F
The correct answer is C
Homework Equations
F_g = GmM / r^2
The Attempt at a Solution
Why is the force still F?
Is it because the only force that the rod has to equal in magnitude is the gravitational acceleration between two balls at a time?