What does the universal law of gravitation describe the relationship between?

The universal law of gravitation, formulated by Isaac Newton, states that every mass attracts every other mass in the universe with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers. This fundamentally describes how the gravitational force between two objects is influenced by both their masses and the distance separating them.

In mathematical terms, this can be expressed as ( F = G \frac{m_1 m_2}{r^2} ), where ( F ) is the gravitational force, ( 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. This principle is essential for understanding not just gravity on Earth, but also the interactions of celestial bodies in space.

The other options pertain to different scientific principles: the relationship between velocity and time relates to kinematics in physics, the force of light on a surface involves concepts in optics and electromagnetism, and the behavior of gases in relation to temperature and pressure is described by the gas laws in thermodynamics. Thus, they do not capture the essence of