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:
[tex]F_g=G\,\frac{m1*m2}{d^2}[/tex]
in our case, we are told that such gives 72 units of force:
[tex]F_g=G\,\frac{m1*m2}{d^2} =72[/tex]
Then we change the distance between the objects to 4 times the original (4 * d), such will produce a new gravitational force Fg':
[tex]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[/tex]
Therefore the new gravitational force would be of 4.5 units
