Question

The mass of an object decreases about one half what happens to the gravitational force between the object and the second object whose Mass stays the same
Gravitational force decreases to 1/4 the gravitational force doubles gravitational force decreases by one half the gravitational force stays the same as long as the objects remain on Earth

Answer 1

The gravitational force between two objects is described by Newton's law of universal gravitation, which states that the force \( F \) is given by:

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

where:
- \( G \) is the gravitational constant,
- \( m_1 \) and \( m_2 \) are the masses of the two objects,
- \( r \) is the distance between the centers of the two objects.

If the mass of one object (\( m_1 \)) decreases to half of its original value, while the mass of the second object (\( m_2 \)) stays the same, the new gravitational force \( F' \) can be expressed as:

\[
F' = G \frac{\left( \frac{m_1}{2} \right) m_2}{r^2} = \frac{1}{2} \left( G \frac{m_1 m_2}{r^2} \right) = \frac{1}{2} F
\]

This means that the gravitational force will decrease to half of the original gravitational force.

So, the correct answer is: **the gravitational force decreases by one half.**