Newton's Universal Law of Gravity question

Question

In Newton's Universal Law of Gravity the relationship between the strength of the gravitational force and the second mass is that the force is inversely proportional to the square of this value right?

Answer 1

No, the force is proportional to the value of each mass which means if you double the mass of one of the objects, the gravitational force between them also doubles. On the other hand, the force is inversly proportional to the square of the distance between the two objects. So if you double the distance, the force drops by a factor of 4.

Answer 2

Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation states that

F = G*m₁*m₂ / r² ,

where F is the gravitational force between two objects (one object has mass m₁, the other m₂) separated by a distance of r. G is a constant.

To answer your question, the force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the objects. That means that if the distance between the two objects were to double, the force of gravitational attraction would be quartered (1/2²).

The force is directly proportional to each mass. If mass m₂ were to to double, then the force of gravitational attraction would also double.