A student is calculating the gravitational force between the Earth and the sun. She knows that mass of the Earth is 5.972 x 1024 kg, the mass of the sun is 1.989 x 1030 kg, and the distance between the Earth and the sun is 1.496 x 1012 meters. What piece of information is she missing to be able to find the gravitational force?(1 point) Responses how much heavier the sun is compared to the Earth how much heavier the sun is compared to the Earth the gravitational constant, G the gravitational constant, cap g how long it takes for the Earth to revolve around the sun how long it takes for the Earth to revolve around the sun the direction of the force between the Earth and the sun

Answer 1

The student is missing the gravitational constant, G. To calculate the gravitational force between two bodies using Newton's law of universal gravitation, she needs the formula:

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

where \( F \) is the gravitational force, \( G \) is the gravitational constant (approximately \( 6.674 \times 10^{-11} , \text{N(m/kg)}^2 \)), \( m_1 \) and \( m_2 \) are the masses of the two objects, and \( r \) is the distance between their centers.