Question

Objects 1 and 2 attract each other with a gravitational force

Answer 1

Answer:

The new gravitational force will be of 4.5 units

Explanation:

Recall that the formula for the gravitational force between two objects of masses m1 and m2 separated by a distance d is given by:

$F_g=G\,\frac{m1*m2}{d^2}$

in our case, we are told that such gives 72 units of force:

$F_g=G\,\frac{m1*m2}{d^2} =72$

Then we change the distance between the objects to 4 times the original (4 * d), such will produce a new gravitational force Fg':

$F_g'=G\,\frac{m1*m2}{(4*d)^2} =G\,\frac{m1*m2}{16*d^2} = \frac{1}{16} *G\,\frac{m1*m2}{d^2}=\frac{1}{16} *\,72=4.5$

Therefore the new gravitational force would be of 4.5 units