All bodies of the universe attract each other. This force of attraction is called the force of gravitation. It was Newton who propounded the law of gravitation. The force of gravitation between two bodies depends upon two things – their masses and the distance between them. The greater the masses of the bodies, the greater will be the force of attraction. But, with the increase distance between them, the force as a consequence decreases. As a matter of fact, if the distance between two bodies is doubled, the force of attraction will be reduced to one-fourth.
The Moon is a satellite of the Earth. It revolves round the Earth. The mass of the Earth is about 81 times more than that of the Moon while the Moon is only a quarter of the Earth’s diameter. The gravitational pull of the Moon is only one-sixth of the Earth’s gravity. If a man can jump one metre high on the Earth, he can jump six metres high on the Moon. Similarly, if a ball is thrown up from the surface of the Moon, it will go up six times higher than it would on the Earth.
The Moon does not have atmosphere because of its low force of gravity. As a result, air molecules cannot be attracted towards it and they fail to stay around it. The Moon’s gravitational pull affects our Earth also. Because of this pull, water in the seas is attracted upwards causing tides.