Gravity, Orbits, Planets, Stars...

What can you do if the numbers that you are working with become too big or too small to display
them on your calculator? Depending on the type of calculator you have, this becomes a problem
when we are dealing with numbers such as the mass of the galaxy, or the size of a proton. One way
to work with these numbers is to handle the exponents separately.
I understand working with orders of magnitude now!

A reservoir for suburban water supply is 20\text{ m}20 m in diameter and 6\text{ m}6 m tall. A
70\text{ kg}70 kg man stands at a distance of 11\text{ m}11 m from its centre. To an order of
magnitude, approximating the reservoir as a point mass, what is the magnitude of the gravitational
force between them?
Answer: 0.1

Charon is the (main) moon of Pluto. Charon's radius is 604\text{ km}604 km (9.5\%9.5% of
Earth's) and its mass 1.5 \times 10^{21} \text{ kg}1.5×1021 kg (0.025\%0.025% of Earth's and
12\%12% of Pluto's). Joe weighs 0.7\text{ kN}0.7 kN on Earth:
Answer: 20

You also know that gravitational acceleration is g = 9.82\text{ m.s}^2g=9.82 m.s2 (at the poles),
and that the Earth's radius is 6370\text{ km}6370 km. For this question, let's pretend it is spherical
in shape. Use these data to find both the mass and the average density of the Earth. Give your
answers to three significant figures. Express the mass in kg but the density in metric tonnes per
cubic metre, which is a familiar unit for condensed phases. (A tonne is 1000\text{ kg}1000 kg, so
water has a density of 1.00\text{ t.m}^{-3}1.00 t.m−3 and iron 7.87\text{ t.m}^{-3}7.87 t.m−3.)

Answer: 5.97×10^24 kg, 5.52

Come on, Joe, why won't you tell us the wonderful, elegant explanation for the inverse square law?
Answer: All of the above