Newton's law of universal gravitation states that every particle attracts every other particle in the universe with a force which is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers.
This is mathematically represented as
<u>F= (G X m1 x m2) /r∧2</u>
where F is the force acting between the charged particles
r is the distance between the two charges measured in m
G is the gravitational constant which has a value of <em>6.674×10^-11 Nm^2 kg^-2</em>
m1 and m2 are the masses of the objects measured in Kg
Now if the distance between the is doubled then r becomes 2r. Substituting this in the above formula we get the new Force as
Force (new) = (G X m1 x m2) /(2r)∧2
Thus dividing Force(new)/Force we get
Force(new)/Force = 1/4.
Thus the gravitational force becomes 1/4th of the original value if the distance between the two masses are doubled.
