Question

gravity is a force that causes two objects to be pulled together. the strength of gravity depends on two factors - mass and distance. isaac newton studied gravity and came up with the universal law of gravitation to explain these relationships.
today we will examine data about the rings of saturn to study newton’s universal law of gravitation. as you know, saturn doesn’t actually have rings - really it’s just millions of particles of ice and rock orbiting the planet, which makes it appear to have rings. the particles range in size from the size of a grain of sand to the size of our school and spread out over 282,000 kilometers.
first, by analyzing the mass of some of these ring particles and the gravitational force between the particle and saturn, we will determine how mass relates to the force of gravity. second, by analyzing the distance between the ring particles and saturn and the gravitational force between them, we will determine how distance relates to gravity. let’s begin!
table 1: mass and gravitational force

mass of the ring particle (kg)	gravitational force (× 10,000 newtons)	distance from saturn (km)
3	35	180,000
4	47	180,000
5	58	180,000
6	70	180,000
7	82	180,000
8	93	180,000
9	105	180,000

1. examine table 1. list three observations you can make about this data.
2. variables that change in this table are __________ and __________.
3. the variable that does not change in this table is ____________.

Explanation:

1. For question 1:

• Observation 1: Distance from Saturn stays constant.
• Observation 2: Gravitational force rises with mass.
• Observation 3: Force increases ~11-12 per kg mass gain.

1. For question 2: Identify columns with changing values in Table 1.
2. For question 3: Identify the column with identical values across all rows.

Answer:

1.

• 1. The distance from Saturn is constant.
• 2. Gravitational force increases as particle mass increases.
• 3. Each 1 kg increase in mass leads to an approximate 11-12 (x10,000 Newtons) increase in gravitational force.

1. Mass of the Ring Particle, Gravitational Force
2. Distance From Saturn