Such a gravitational force exists between the Earth and moon, attempting to pull them towards each other. But for our purposes, the important lesson is that the greater the masses of the objects, the greater the gravitational force, and the farther the objects are from each other, the weaker the force. In the case of tides, there are a few other factors that modify this equation so that the distance (r) is cubed rather than squared, giving distance an even greater impact on tidal forces. G is the universal gravitational constant 6.67408 × 10 -11 m 3 kg -1 s -2 (By I, Dennis Nilsson, via Wikimedia Commons). The gravitational force between two objects (F) is calculated as the product of the two masses (m 1 and m 2) divided by the distance between them (r) squared. Figure 11.1.1 Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation. The magnitude of the force is proportional to the masses of the objects, and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the objects, according to the equation in Figure 11.1.1. Our modern understanding of tide formation stems from Isaac Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation, which states that any two objects have a gravitational attraction to each other.
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