GRAVITATIONAL FORCE Newtons Law of Universal Gravitation is used to explain gravitational force.

This law states that every massive particle in the universe attracts every other massive particle with a force which is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. This general, physical law was derived from observations made by induction. Another way, more modern, way to state the law is: every point mass attracts every single other point mass by a force pointing along the line intersecting both points. The force is proportional to the product of the two masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the point masses. Gravitational force surrounds us. It is what decides how much we weigh and how far a basketball will travel when thrown before it returns to the surface. The gravitational force on Earth is equal to the force the Earth exerts on you. At rest, on or near the surface of the Earth, the gravitational force equals your weight. On a different astronomical body like Venus or the Moon, the acceleration of gravity is different than on Earth, so if you were to stand on a scale, it would show you that you weigh a different amount than on Earth.

It is common knowledge that you do not tie a string or rope or chain to an object to push it across the floor. Strings, ropes and chains can only pull on things! The force of pull supplied by strings, ropes or chains is called the tension force:

The tension force is always directed along the length of the thing doing the pulling (string, rope, chain). When drawing a FBD, make sure that your tension force vector is drawn such that the object is being pulled, not pushed! (While this may sound silly, it is a common mistake in force problems! Just be careful!)