According to the Universal Law of Gravitation, gravitational forces between objects are directly proportional to what?

The correct answer is that gravitational forces between objects are directly proportional to their masses. According to the Universal Law of Gravitation, formulated by Isaac Newton, the gravitational force ( F ) between two objects can be described by the equation ( F = G \frac{m_1 m_2}{r^2} ), where ( G ) is the gravitational constant, ( m_1 ) and ( m_2 ) are the masses of the two objects, and ( r ) is the distance between the centers of the two objects.

In this equation, the gravitational force increases as the product of the two masses increases, illustrating the direct proportionality to their masses. Thus, larger masses will exert a stronger gravitational pull on one another.

The other options do not reflect this relationship. The distance between the objects affects the gravitational force inversely, as shown by the ( r^2 ) term in the equation; as distance increases, gravitational force decreases. The velocities and temperatures of the objects are irrelevant to the calculation of gravitational force according to this law. They do not impact how the gravitational pull is determined between two masses.