The strength of the gravitational force between two objects is determined by two main factors:
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Mass of the Objects: The greater the mass of the objects, the stronger the gravitational force between them. According to Newton's law of universal gravitation, the force is directly proportional to the product of the masses of the two objects.
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Distance Between the Objects: The gravitational force decreases with the square of the distance between the centers of the two objects. As the distance increases, the gravitational force becomes weaker. This relationship is expressed in the equation for gravitational force: \( F = G \frac{m_1 m_2}{r^2} \), where \( F \) is the gravitational force, \( G \) is the gravitational constant, \( m_1 \) and \( m_2 \) are the masses, and \( r \) is the distance between the centers of the two masses.
Thus, both the masses of the objects and the distance between them play crucial roles in determining the gravitational force.