Related Rates

The gravitational force, $F$, between two objects in space with masses $m_1$ and $m_2$ is given by the formula $F=\frac{Gm_1m_2}{r^2}$ where $r$ is the distance between the objects' centers of mass and $G$ is the universal gravitational constant.

Two pieces of space junk, one with mass 500 kg and the other with mass 3000 kg, were drifting directly toward one another. When the objects' centers of mass were 250 km apart the lighter pie…