How does mass affect gravitational attraction between objects?

Mass directly influences gravitational attraction between objects; the greater the mass, the stronger the gravitational pull.

In more detail, the gravitational attraction between two objects is determined by the universal law of gravitation, formulated by Sir Isaac Newton. This law states that every particle of matter in the universe attracts every other particle with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centres. This is often summarised as F = G * (m1 * m2) / r^2, where F is the force of attraction between the objects, m1 and m2 are the masses of the two objects, r is the distance between the centres of the two objects, and G is the gravitational constant.

This means that if you increase the mass of either object, the force of gravitational attraction between them will increase. For example, if you were to double the mass of one object, the gravitational force between the two objects would also double. Similarly, if you were to double the mass of both objects, the gravitational force would quadruple. This demonstrates the direct proportionality between mass and gravitational force.

However, it's important to note that while mass directly affects the strength of the gravitational force, the effect of this force is not always noticeable. This is because the gravitational constant (G) is extremely small, so the gravitational force between objects of small mass, or objects that are far apart, is also very small. For example, the gravitational force between two 1kg objects 1 metre apart is approximately 6.674 * 10^-11 N, which is virtually imperceptible.

In conclusion, mass plays a crucial role in determining the strength of the gravitational attraction between objects. The greater the mass of the objects, the stronger the gravitational pull between them. However, due to the small value of the gravitational constant, the effect of this force is often negligible unless the masses involved are very large, such as the mass of a planet or star.