Question

Two ships are docked next to each other. Their centers of mass are 39m apart. One ship’s mass is 9.2 *10^7 kg and the other ship’s mass is 1.84*10^8 kg. What gravitational force exists between them?
Please help!

Answer 1

Answer:

742.3N

Explanation:

Given parameters:

Distance  = 39m

Mass 1  = 9.2 x 10⁷kg

Mass 2  = 1.84 x 10⁸kg

Unknown:

Gravitational force between the ships  = ?

Solution:

To solve this problem, we apply the newton's law of universal gravitation:

            Fg  = $\frac{G x mass 1 x mass 2}{r^{2} }$  

G is the universal gravitation constant  = 6.67 x 10⁻¹¹

r is the distance or separation

   Fg  = $\frac{6.67 x 10^{-11} x 9.2 x 10^{7} x 1.84 x 10^{8} }{39^{2} }$   = 742.3N