When a fruit falls from a tree

Options

A. only the earth attracts the fruit
B. both the earth and the fruit attract each other
C. only fruit attracts the earth
D. they repel each other

Explanation

**Step-by-Step Solution:**

1. **Understanding the Scenario**: When a fruit falls from a tree, we need to analyze the forces acting on the fruit and the Earth.

2. **Identifying the Forces**: According to the universal law of gravitation, every mass attracts every other mass. Therefore, both the Earth and the fruit exert gravitational forces on each other.

3. **Applying the Universal Law of Gravitation**: The gravitational force (F) between two masses (m1 for the Earth and m2 for the fruit) separated by a distance (r) is given by the formula:
\[ F = \frac{G \cdot m1 \cdot m2}{r^2} \]
where G is the gravitational constant.

4. **Analyzing Masses**: The mass of the Earth (m1) is significantly larger than the mass of the fruit (m2). This means that while both bodies attract each other, the effect of the Earth's gravitational pull on the fruit is much more noticeable than the pull of the fruit on the Earth.

5. **Conclusion**: Since the Earth has a much larger mass, it causes the fruit to fall towards it. However, the fruit also attracts the Earth, but the effect is negligible due to the Earth's massive size. Therefore, both the Earth and the fruit attract each other.

6. **Final Answer**: The correct statement is that both the Earth and the fruit attract each other.

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