Gravitational Force Between Bodies

[Dan Dixon]

Thanks for the interesting discussion everyone.

My question is, is 1 a BIG force number?  What number constitutes a very LARRRRRGE gravitational force?

It all depends on what the units are. If we were talking about length 1 would be small if it were a centimeter, but huge if it were a light year.

The earth emits a gravitational force of 9.8 m/s² at its surface (it becomes less and you travel away from the Earth). The moon's surface is around 1.6 m/s². So if we're talking about m/s², then 1 might be small.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth's_gravity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_of_the_Moon

[InfoBloe]

I like experiments.

Have you heard about the experiment that Gallileo performed where he dropped two different weights from the leaning tower of Pisa?
http://www.jimloy.com/physics/galileo.htm
Both weights hit the ground at the same time.

That may be because the weights needed a bit more time to gain velocty.
But im not sure.

[deoxy99]

Did you check the masses of the bodies before this test?
Did you check the distance of the bodies before this test?

If the distances are different, the test might be incorrect. That goes for the mass too.