Question

A) The attractive gravitational force between two masses increases as the distance between them decreases (F / 1=r2). With this in mind, why is it not impossible to pull your fingers apart after touching them together?

B) All rockets that are bound for orbit are launched as close as possible to the equator and are launched to the east. What is helpful about llaunching to the east near the equator?

Answer 1

A) The mass of your fingers is not high enough, due to which the gravitational force is still much lower than the repulsive force exerted by your bones, even if the fingers are very much near to each other. we must also remember that even if the fingers touch each other, still there is sufficient gaps between the atoms in both the fingers.

B) The earth rotates from west to east and near the equator its spin velocity is the greatest. when a rocket is launched at this location towards east, it gets an extra boost due to the spin of earth, which helps in increasing the speed of the rocket. This helps in saving fuel.