What happens to the gravitational force between two objects if the mass of one object is quadrupled (increased

Question

what happens to the gravitational force between two objects if the mass of one object is quadrupled (increased 4 times)?

A. quadrupled

B. increased 16 times

C. reduced by 1/4

D. none of these

Answer 1

B.

Answer 2

The gravitational force between two objects is proportional to the product of the masses of these two objects:

force = something * mass_one * mass_two

If you increase the mass of one of the objects by a factor of four, you get

new_force = something * 4 * mass_one * mass_two

which is equal to

new_force = 4 * (something * mass_one * mass_two)

which is equal to

new_force = 4 * force

Consequently, answer A is correct

By the way, the "something" in the above formulas is

something = G/(r^2)

where G is the gravitational constant and r is the distance between the two objects.

Answer 3

A