The mass of the moon is 7.36×1022kg and its distance to the Earth is 3.84×108m. What is the gravitational force of the moon on the earth? The moon's force is what percent of the sun's force?

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Answer 1 · 2017-01-05T07:39:55

#F=1.989*10^20 kgm/s^2#
#3.7*10^-6%#

Using Newton's gravitational force equation

#F=(Gm_1m_2)/(r^2)#

and assuming that the mass of the Earth is

#m_1=5.972*10^24kg#

and #m_2# is the given mass of the moon with #G# being

#6.674*10^-11Nm^2/(kg)^2#

gives #1.989*10^20 kgm/s^2# for #F# of the moon.

Repeating this with #m_2# as the mass of the sun gives

#F=5.375*10^27kgm/s^2#

This gives the moon's gravitational force as #3.7*10^-6%# of the Sun's gravitational force.