- #1
godtripp
- 54
- 0
Here's the question.
"Four identical masses of 800 kg each are placed at the corners of a square whose side length is 10.0 cm. What is the net gravitational force on one of the masses due to the other three?"
for convenience, I replaced mass with "M" and the distance with "d"
So, I figure that Net Force is equal to the sum of the gravitational forces between the three masses.
So if we call the force between the vertical mass and horizontal mass F1 and F2 respectively then F1=F2
Calculating out F1 gives me F= (GM^2)/(d^2)
And by Pythagorean the distance to the horizontal mass is d[tex]\sqrt{2}[/tex]
so F3= (GM^2)/(2d^2)
So net force FN = 2F1+F3
or (5GM^2)/(2d^2).
However this is not the proper answer...
Proper answer is 8.2 x 10^-3 N
Can someone help me with this please? Thank you!
"Four identical masses of 800 kg each are placed at the corners of a square whose side length is 10.0 cm. What is the net gravitational force on one of the masses due to the other three?"
for convenience, I replaced mass with "M" and the distance with "d"
So, I figure that Net Force is equal to the sum of the gravitational forces between the three masses.
So if we call the force between the vertical mass and horizontal mass F1 and F2 respectively then F1=F2
Calculating out F1 gives me F= (GM^2)/(d^2)
And by Pythagorean the distance to the horizontal mass is d[tex]\sqrt{2}[/tex]
so F3= (GM^2)/(2d^2)
So net force FN = 2F1+F3
or (5GM^2)/(2d^2).
However this is not the proper answer...
Proper answer is 8.2 x 10^-3 N
Can someone help me with this please? Thank you!