THE LAW

OF
GRAVITY

Lecture 5
 Newton’s Law of
Universal
Gravitation
• Always
attractive
• Proportional to
both masses
FG 2
m1m2 • Inversely
r proportional to
11  m 3  separation
G  6.67  10 
 kg  s 2  squared
 Gravitation Constant

• Determined experimentally
• Henry Cavendish, 1798
• Light beam / mirror
amplify motion
 Weight

• Force of gravity on Earth

GME m
Fg 
RE2

• But we know Fg  mg


GME
 g 2
RE

 Example 1
Often people say astronauts
feel weightless, because
there is no gravity in space.

This explanation is wrong!

What is the acceleration due

to gravity at the height of
the space shuttle (~350 km
above the earth surface)?

8.81 m/s2
(0.90 g)
 Example 1 (continued)
Correct explanation of weightlessness:

 Everything (shuttle, people, bathroom

scale, etc.) also falls with same
acceleration

 No counteracting force (earth’s surface)

 “Accelerating Reference Frame”

 Same effect would be felt in falling

elevator
 Kepler’s Laws
1. Planets move in elliptical orbits with Sun
at one of the focal points.

2. Line drawn from Sun to planet sweeps out

equal areas in equal times.

3. The square of the orbital period of any

planet is proportional to cube of the average
distance from the Sun to the planet.
 Escape from Earth

Escape Velocity - Minimum speed at which

two objects will not be held together by
their mutual gravity
Note: An object NEVER leaves the
gravitational influence of another object
Escape Velocity from surface of Earth is
11.2 km/sec or 40,000 km/hr
THE END