Question

part c
now, set the mass of both balls to be equal. increase the distance between them by pulling one of the balls away from the other. to pull a ball away, click on the ball and drag it. what happens to the force arrows between the two balls? what does this mean in terms of gravity?

Explanation:

Analyze the relationship between distance and force

Using the Universal Law of Gravitation and Gravitational Force Factors knowledge points

$$ F = G \frac{m_1 m_2}{r^2} $$

Determine the effect of increasing distance

Using the Gravitational Force Factors knowledge point

$$ r \uparrow \implies F \downarrow $$

Describe the visual representation of the force

Using the Gravitational Attraction knowledge point

$$ \text{Force arrows shorten} \implies \text{Gravitational force decreases} $$

Answer:

When you increase the distance between the two balls, the force arrows between them get shorter. In terms of gravity, this means that the gravitational force between two objects decreases as the distance between them increases.