Newtons law of Universal Gravition

2011

Newton's Law of Gravitation states that every particle in the Universe attracts every other particle
with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

, where F is magnitude, (written in F) of the gravitational force

between the two point masses, G is the gravitational constant, m1 is the mass of the first point mass, m2 is the mass of the second point mass, r is the distance between the two point masses.

Gravitational force

All masses attract each other with a gravitational force. If point masses m1 and m2, are a distance r apart, and F is the force on each, then according to Newton's law of gravitation:

With a suitable constant, the above proportion can be turned into an

equation:

G is called the gravitational constant. It is found by

experiment using large laboratory masses and an extremely sensitive force-measuring system. In SI units, the values of G is 6.67 x 10 -11 N m2 kg-2

Newtons law of Universal Gravition

2011

The gravitational force is inversely proportional to the square of the

separation of the particles.

(Note: The Newtons law of Gravitation

Only applicable to the point masses)

Gravitational field If a mass feels a gravitational force, then it is in a gravitational field. The gravitational field strength g at a point is defined as the gravitational force per unit mass acting on a mass placed at that point.

g=
or
-1

In symbols

g=

g=G

Unit of g can be written as N kg or ms-2. It is independent of test mass. For example, if a mass of 2 kg feels a gravitational force of 10 N, then g is 5 N kg-1.

Note: Gravitational field strength is a vector. g is a variable and can have different values. The symbol g above does not imply the particular value of 9.81 N kg-1 near the Earths surface. The force acting on a mass in a gravitational field can be found by rearranging the equation above: F = mg.