astron 3b

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Cristina Vazquez

Rasmussen College

Author Note

This paper is being submitted on April 15, 2017, for Professor Stephen Davis’s G239 Astronomy course.

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The relationship between gravity and the mass of two interacting bodies can be shown by the following equation:

F = G x m1 x m2 / r2, where F represents the force of gravity itself whereas G is the gravitational constant which is normally 6.674x10-11 N(m/kg)2 ). The masses of the two bodies are abbreviated by m1 and m2 and r2 is the distance that exists between centers of the two masses.

From the equation presented above, it is quite clear that the gravitational force is directly proportional to the two masses. However, it is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between centers where the force of gravity acts.

Altitude affects the escape velocity. The distance from the earth will affect the escape velocity. The force of gravity reduces as the object moves up. In other words, it reduces with increase in distance from the earth meaning the initial speed required to propel the object reduces.