Newton's law of universal gravitation
Grade 11 Science Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer, or write your answer on the line.
Earth's mass is 5.9722 × 10²⁴ kg and its radius is 6371 km. With G = 6.674 × 10⁻¹¹ N·m²/kg², what is g at 400 km above the surface, to the nearest hundredth, Ari?
Earth's mass is 5.9722 × 10²⁴ kg and its radius is 6371 km. With G = 6.674 × 10⁻¹¹ N·m²/kg², what is g at 6371 km above the surface, to the nearest hundredth, Bo?
The distance between two bodies halves. What happens to the gravitational force, Jun?
- It is 4 times as big
- It halves
- It doubles
Both masses double, and the distance between them doubles too. What happens to the force, Kira?
- It doubles
- It is 8 times as big
- It stays the same
The distance between two bodies becomes 10 times as large. What fraction of the force is left, Luz?
- One-hundredth
- One-tenth
- One-thousandth
Milo says there is no gravity at a satellite's height of 400 km. Agree or disagree?
- Agree: satellites float, so nothing pulls them
- Agree: gravity stops in space
- Disagree: g there is still about 8.7 N/kg
Noah says Earth pulls harder on the Moon than the Moon pulls on Earth. Agree or disagree?
- Agree: Earth is closer to the Sun
- Disagree: the pulls are equal and opposite
- Agree: Earth has more mass
Read this first
Earth, Mars and the Moon (NASA fact sheets)
Body Mass (10²⁴ kg) Mean radius (km) Earth 5.9722 6371 Mars 0.64169 3389.5 Moon 0.07346 1737.4 Using the table, about how many times Mars's mass is Earth's mass, Ren?
- About 81 times
- About 2 times
- About 9 times
Using the table, Mars has about one-ninth of Earth's mass, but more than one-ninth of its surface gravity. Why, Tala?
- Mars spins faster than Earth
- Its radius is smaller, so its surface is closer to its center
- Mars's gravity doesn't depend on its mass
Using the table, which body has the smallest surface gravity, Zee?
- The Moon
- Mars
- Earth, since it is biggest