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Imagine bringing the tips of your index fingers together.

Chapter 12, Problem 4CQ

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QUESTION:

Imagine bringing the tips of your index fingers together. Each finger contains a certain finite mass, and the distance between them goes to zero as they come into contact. From the force law \(F=G m_{1} m_{2} / r^{2}\) one might conclude that the attractive force between the fingers is infinite, and, therefore, that your fingers must remain forever stuck together. What is wrong with this argument?

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QUESTION:

Imagine bringing the tips of your index fingers together. Each finger contains a certain finite mass, and the distance between them goes to zero as they come into contact. From the force law \(F=G m_{1} m_{2} / r^{2}\) one might conclude that the attractive force between the fingers is infinite, and, therefore, that your fingers must remain forever stuck together. What is wrong with this argument?

ANSWER:

Step 1 of 2:

Here we need to explain that, what happens when the distance between two objects becomes zero. Because the inverse square law tells that, the force must be infinite.

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