A. 1/9
Explanation:
The gravitational force between two objects is given by
[tex]F=G\frac{m_1 m_2}{r^2}[/tex]
where
G is the gravitational constant
m1 and m2 are the two masses
r is the distance between the two masses
From the formula, we see that the magnitude of the force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance: therefore, if the distance is tripled (increased by a factor 3), the magnitude of the force changes by a factor
[tex]\frac{1}{r^2}=\frac{1}{3^2}=\frac{1}{9}[/tex]
