Question

Two stars, Star 1 and Star 2, are at almost equal distances from Earth. The table below shows the masses of the two stars.

Name of Star Mass of Star (in million solar masses)
Star 1 3.61
Star 2 3.59

Which of these statements is most likely correct about the stars?
Answer

Star 2 attracts Star 1 with a greater gravitational force than Star 1 attracts Star 2.

Earth exerts almost equal gravitation force on both the stars.

Star 1 attracts Star 2 with a greater gravitational force than Star 2 attracts Star 1.

Earth exerts greater gravitation force on Star 2 than on Star 1.

Answer 1

(First note that the answers are all qualitative, not quantitative; i.e, there aren't any numbers and we don't have to do math!)

Answer 1: Impossible - there is only one magnitude of gravitational force between two objects.

Answer 2: Perhaps; depends on whether question-asker considers masses of stars to be "almost" identical

Answer 3: Equally as impossible as Answer 1

Answer 4: Also impossible: since star distances from earth are equal as far as we know, and Star 1 is the bigger star, it would be Star 1, if any, on which Earth exerts greater force.

Three answers are impossible; therefore the answer most likely correct is Answer 2.