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Question
- what are the two contributors to the strength of gravity? ____ and ____
- which object in our solar system has the greatest gravitational pull? ______
- define the following terms:
Question 19:
The strength of gravity (gravitational force) is determined by two main factors according to Newton's law of universal gravitation, \( F = G\frac{m_1m_2}{r^2} \), where \( F \) is the gravitational force, \( G \) is the gravitational constant, \( m_1 \) and \( m_2 \) are the masses of the two objects, and \( r \) is the distance between their centers. The two contributors are the mass of the objects (the greater the mass, the stronger the gravitational pull) and the distance between the objects (the smaller the distance, the stronger the gravitational pull).
In our solar system, the object with the greatest gravitational pull is the Sun. This is because the Sun has by far the largest mass in the solar system (accounting for about 99.86% of the total mass of the solar system). According to Newton's law of universal gravitation, a larger mass results in a stronger gravitational force. The Sun's massive size means it exerts a much stronger gravitational pull on all the planets, asteroids, comets, and other objects orbiting around it compared to any other celestial body in the solar system.
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