Questions: about the force of gravity.

[Katt]

Homework Statement

I have two questions (stated below), but do not feel confident about my answers:

(1)Which of the following statements about the force of gravity is false?
a. it is a universal force, which acts everywhere in space
b. its strength decreases as the square of the distance
c. its strength is inversely proportional to the mass: the more mass, the less gravity
d. the force never becomes zero
e. it causes the paths of the planet to be ellipses and not straight lines.

(2) Newton's Law of Gravity, the force of gravity goes up as the:

a. mass goes down
b. mass goes up
c. distance does down
d. distance goes up
e. or more than one of the above

The Attempt at a Solution

For the first problem I think c. is false because I thought the more mass you have the more gravity there is.
For problem (2), I think, "the force of gravity goes up" as the, (d.)distance goes down.

However, I am not sure. Hopefully, you can inform me on the correct answer.



(My apologies, if I am posting in the wrong section).

 

[Vagrant]

Both the questions can be answered by considering G= g M m/ r^2

 

[Borek]

1d is for mindreaders, it depends on what kind of answer teacher wants to hear.

 

[WARLORDTF]

Upon my knowledge the mass of an object is derived from intermolecular forces called higgs boson, where the P+ and N give and receive a 'force' (probably the wrong word but...) which gives the atom mass the gravitons present in the atom makes the mass of the object react to gravity.
This probably didn't help much but is my input, which i find isreasonably good considering i am in yr 10 of schooling

 

[Katt]

Thanks for the help, but I am still confused.
For the first problem, I was trying to see which problems were true statements, thus leaving 1 false one left.

This is where I am so far:
- I read that, " Gravity can never become zero. We can increase the separation and make the force as small as we like, but we can’t make it go away." So, d cannot be the false statement.

- "It is a Universal force that acts everywhere in space," is a true statement too. So, I think that (a) cannot be the false statement.

- "It causes the planets to be ellipses and not straight lines," is also true and not false.

So, if I am correct that leaves me with either (b) or (c) as the false statement, I do not not which one it is though.

 

[Borek]

Does it have to be one false answer? You posted confusing "statements is" phrase.

Take a look at the equation posted bu Shramana, it will tell you whether c is OK.

 

[Katt]

For the first problem: I have to find the statement that is false.
There is only 1 false statement out of the 5 choices listed.

So, I think c is the answer to problem(1) because it says "the more mass, the less gravity." That contradicts what I have read, which states, the more mass something has the greater the gravity. C must be the false statement and the other statements must be correct.

?

 

[Borek]

C it is then.

 

[Katt]

Ok!... So, that would mean for problem(2), that the force of gravity goes up as the, "mass goes up," all of which effects the distance...

 

[Borek]

The higher the mass, the stronger the gravity. That's true, but that's not all.

 

[Katt]

Let me try this again!
The force of gravity goes up as the "mass goes up" and,
the force of gravity goes up as the, "distance goes down" because gravity increases as the distance decreases.

 

[Hootenanny]

Let me try this again!
The force of gravity goes up as the "mass goes up" and,
the force of gravity goes up as the, "distance goes down" because gravity increases as the distance decreases.

Sounds good to me

 

[Katt]

Finally, I get it. Thanks everyone for the help.