Originally Posted By: paul
Quote:
much more massive


how would you determine when a mass is much more massive?

is there a much more massive formula that is used?

is 6000kg much more massive than 100 kg?

or is it merely more massive?




That's why you can't use that formula for something that needs to be precise. There's no point at which it changes from wrong to right. It's only an approximation. Anyone using it has to decide if their large mass is large enough for the approximation to be good enough for their application. For us it is never good enough because we have a cumulative effect of many masses hitting it again and again, so the little error gets worse and worse.

The two equations immediately before it at the exact ones. Use them instead. They give correct results for large or small masses.