Gravitation of two iron spheres homework problem

AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around a physics homework problem involving two iron spheres and their gravitational attraction compared to the Earth's gravitational force. The user initially struggles with setting up the equations for gravitational force, leading to confusion over the unknowns involved. After some back-and-forth, it is clarified that the mass of the spheres can be determined using the density of iron, allowing for the cancellation of variables. Ultimately, the user successfully derives the correct answer by realizing they can calculate the mass based on the spheres' dimensions. The conversation highlights the importance of recognizing how to utilize known values to solve for unknowns in physics problems.
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Consider two iron spheres, each of diameter 100mm, which are just touching. At what distance r from the center of the Earth will the force of mutual attraction between the contacting spheres be equal to the force exerted by the Earth on one of the spheres?

Here's my work...

d = distance between center of spheres
r = distance between center of Earth to the center of sphere
me = mass of earth
m = mass of sphere=m1=m2

F = G(m^2)/(d^2)
= I get some number with (m^2)...so 1 unknown.

then I make this equal to...

F = G*me*m/(r^2)
= I get some number with m/(r^2)...so 2 unknowns.

I am confused as to what I am suppose to do beyond this...
Problem seems to be asking me to set 2 equations to equal to each other and solve for r but it won't work...what am I doing wrong?

Thank you.
 
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It works: (use M for mass of earth)

\frac{Gm^2}{d^2} = \frac{GMm}{r^2}
\frac{m}{d^2} = \frac{M}{r^2}
r = \sqrt{\frac{M}{m}}d

Where you've given M, m and d.
 
m isn't given.
First thing that I wrote up there is the whole question.
Answer comes out to be a number.
How do I get the number if I have 2 unknowns. :(

I am thinking that there's something that I am missing that gets rid of that m so that I can cancel out m and just solve for r.
 
If they're iron, and you know the size, you can calculate the mass. Density of iron can be found in any data book.
 
OMG! There!
Now I see what I've missed.
I got the right answer. Thank you so much! :D
 
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