How does the force of attraction between the two bodies depend upon their masses and distance between them? A student thought that two bricks tied together would fall faster than a single one under the action of gravity. Do you agree with his hypothesis or not? Comment.

According to Newton's law of gravitation, the force of attraction is directly proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the two objects.

If there are two objects having mass $m_1$ and $m_2$ are kept at a distance of $r$, then force of attraction acting upon them $F\propto m_1$  ......... $(i)$

$F\propto m_2$    ........... $(ii)$

$F\propto \frac{1}{r^2}$    ......... $(iii)$

So, $F\propto \frac{m_1m_2}{r^2}$

Or $F=G\frac{m_1m_2}{r^2}$

Here $G$ is a universal constant.

If two bricks tied together would not fall faster than a single one under the action of gravity. As the value of gravitational acceleration $(g)$ does not depend on the mass of the falling objects.

So, two bricks tied together would reach the ground at the same time as the single brick under gravity if there is no air resistance.

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Updated on: 10-Oct-2022

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