SHS

General Physics 1
Activity Sheet
Quarter 2 – MELC 9,10,11
Week 2
Newton’s Law of Universal
Gravitation, Gravitational Field,
Gravitational Potential Energy

REGION VI – WESTERN VISAYAS

General Physics 1 Activity Sheet No. 4 – Newton’s Law of Universal
Gravitation, Gravitational Field, Gravitational Potential Energy
First Edition, 2020

Published in the Philippines

By the Department of Education
Region 6 – Western Visayas

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Development Team of General Physics 1 Activity Sheet

Writer: Joselito B. Salcedo

Reviewer: Joseph M. Pagalaran

Division of Himamaylan City Management Team:

Reynaldo G. Gico,
Bernie L. Libo-on,
Grace T. Nicavera,
Mylene D. Lopez,
Joseph M. Pagalaran

Regional Management Team:

Ma. Gemma M. Ledesma,
Josilyn S. Solana,
Elena P. Gonzaga,
Donald T. Genine,
Rovel R. Salcedo,
Moonyeen C. Rivera,
Anita S. Gubalane,
Minda L. Soldevilla,
Daisy L. Lopez,
Joseph M. Pagalaran

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Introductory Message
Welcome to General Physics 1!

The Learning Activity Sheet is a product of the collaborative efforts of

the Schools Division of Himamaylan City and DepEd Regional Office VI -
Western Visayas through the Curriculum and Learning Management Division
(CLMD). This is developed to guide the learning facilitators (teachers, parents
and responsible adults) in helping the learners meet the standards set by the
K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum.

The Learning Activity Sheet is self-directed instructional materials

aimed to guide the learners in accomplishing activities at their own pace and
time using the contextualized resources in the community. This will also
assist the learners in acquiring the lifelong learning skills, knowledge and
attitudes for productivity and employment.

For learning facilitator:

The General Physics 1 Activity Sheet will help you facilitate the
leaching-learning activities specified in each Most Essential Learning
Competency (MELC) with minimal or no face-to-face encounter between you
and learner. This will be made available to the learners with the
references/links to ease the independent learning.

For the learner:

The General Physics 1 Activity Sheet is developed to help you

continue learning even if you are not in school. This learning material
provides you with meaningful and engaging activities for independent
learning. Being an active learner, carefully read and understand the
instructions then perform the activities and answer the assessments.
This will be returned to your facilitator on the agree agreed schedule.

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Name of Learner:__________________________________________________________
Grade and Section:___________________________Date: _______________________

GENERAL PHYSICS 1 ACTIVITY SHEET No. 4

Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation
Gravitational filed, Gravitational Potential Energy

I. Learning Competency with Code

• Use Newton’s law of gravitation to infer gravitational force, weight, and
acceleration due to gravity.
(STEM_GP12G-IIb-16)
• Discuss the physical significance of gravitational field.
(STEM_GP12Red-IIb-18)
• Apply the concept of gravitational potential energy in physics problems.
(STEM_GP12Red-IIb-19).

II. Background Information for Learners

Newton discovered that gravity was universal. Everything pulls on everything

else in a way that involves mass and distance. All objects in the universe attracts
every other object with a force along a line joining them. The force that is directly
proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square
of the distance between their centers of mass. The Newton’s Law of Gravitation is
universal because it is applicable in all bodies having mass and the bodies that
governed by the same law.

Since the objects gravitational force is directly proportional to the mass of

the interacting objects, the massive objects will attract with each other with a
greater gravitational force. Hence, as the mass in each object increases, the force of
gravitational attraction between them also increases. Therefore, the acceleration
due to gravity depends on the mass of the earth and its distance from each object.

In this learning activity, you will learn the relationship between force, weight,
acceleration and gravity.

III. Activity Proper

Activity 1

Directions: Read selection below and answer the questions that follow.
It was Isaac Newton who first discovered that the laws of motion of objects
on Earth are the same laws that govern the rotational motion of celestial objects
such as the moon around the Earth and the Sun.
Recall that in Newton’s third law of motion, every action result in an equal
and opposite reaction. In terms of gravity, Earth’s gravitational pull on any object
such as moon results in an equal and opposite pull of the Earth.
Because of this symmetry, Newton reasoned that the magnitude of the force
due to gravity must be proportional to the masses of the two objects. He also
concluded that the gravitational force exerted by the Earth on any object decreases
with the square of the object’s distance from the Earth’s center.
However, Earth is not the only object that exerts a gravitational force. Any
object in the universe with mass can exert a gravitational force on another object.

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Newton thus proposed his Law of Universal Gravitation stated as follow:

“Every object in the universe attracts every other object with a force
proportional to the product of the objects’ masses and inversely proportional to
the square of the distance between them. This force acts along the line joining
the two bodies.”

To convert this relation into an equation, use the proportionality constant G

called the universal gravitational constant. The equation is

where:
Fg is the force
G is the gravitational constant 6.67x10-11 N-m2/kg2
m1 and m2 are the masses of the objects
d is the distance between the centers of the objects

Calculating gravitational force and acceleration due to gravity

Gravity is universal. Newton’s conclusion about the magnitude of gravitational force
is summarized symbolically as
G* m1*m2
Fgrav = ----------
d2

Fgrav = force of gravity between two objects

G = 6. 67x10-11 N-m2/kg2
m1 = mass of object 1
m2 = mass of object 2
d = distance separating the object’s center

1. How does Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation relate to Law of Interaction?

__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

2. What is the relationship of the distance of two bodies to gravitational force?

__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

3. If the masses of two objects increase, what will happen to the force of
gravitation?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

4. Suppose that an apple at the top of a tree is pulled by earth gravity with a force
of 1 N. if the tree were twice as tall, would the force of gravity on the apple be only
¼ as strong? Explain your answer.
__________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________

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Activity 2

The acceleration due to gravity near the surface of Earth is 9.8 m/s 2. Using
the law of universal gravitation, compute the acceleration due to gravity for any
given planet.

Solution: The force exerted by a planet on any object with mass m0 is equal to the
object’s weight w = m0g. you can write the familiar equation as

Fg = m 0 g
Solving for g gives
g = Fg
m0
You see that g can be interpreted as a gravitational force per unit mass or as
a gravitational field described by the field lines shown in the figure below. Thus,
you can treat the gravitational interaction between a planet and an object as two-
stage process. First, the planet sets up gravitational field in its surrounding region.
Second, this field exerts a force on another object, including a planet. This is how
“action- at-a-distance” works.

Fig. 1 Gravitational Field Line

To find the magnitude of g, let mp and r be the mass and radius of the
planet, respectively. Near the surface, the distance between the object and the
center of the planet is approximately the planet’s radius r.

Force due to gravity = weight

Fg = w

G = m02mp = m0 g
r

Solving for g gives

g = G mp
r2
By simply substituting the values of G the mass of the planet m p and the
planet’s radius r, you compute the acceleration due to gravity on the planet.

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Sample Problem 1.

The m1 of one of the small spheres of Cavendish balance is 0.0100 kg, m 2 of

the nearest large sphere is 0.500 kg, and the center to center distance between
them is 0.0500 m. Find the gravitational force on each sphere due to the other.

Solution:

Fgrav = G m1 *2m2
d
6.77x10-11N.m2/kg2(0.0100kg)(0.0500kg)
=
(0.0500m)2

= 4.30x10-3 N.m
-12 2

2.5x10 m 2

= 1.33x10-10 N

Exercises

1. Calculate the magnitude of the gravitational force between two 900 kg

automobiles when they are 3 m apart. Do the gravitation forces play
an appreciable role in automobile collisions?

2. The typical adult human has a mass of about 70.0 kg. What force
does a full moon on such human when it is directly overhead with its
center 378,000 km away?

3. Does the value of gravitational force vary when the moon is on the
nearest and farthest orbit to the earth? Explain your answer.

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

4. How does the gravitational force of the moon influence the the rising
and falling of ocean water levels?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

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Activity 3
Gravitational Potential Energy

In the earlier discussion on gravitional potential energy, it was assumed that

the gravitational force on a body is constant in the magnitude and in the direction.
This led to the expression of U= mgy. Note that force experienced by a body at any
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point outside Earth follows the inverse square law or Fg ∞ 𝑟2 , which can also be
applied to other phenomena. For cases where r changes considerably that
gravitational force cannot be held constant, you need to have a more general equation
for gravitational potential energy.
Consider a mass m outside Earth, let the mass of Earth be mE. Recall that
gravitational force is a conservative force. This means that the work done by the force
does not depend on the path taken by an object moving from r 1 to r2. Also, the force
due to gravity is negative because it is directed toward the center of Earth.

The equation for the work done by gravitational force is

Wgrav= G mEm _ G mEm

r2 r1
Recall that the work done by a conservative force can be written as the
negative change inn potential energy or W= - Δ U = U1 – U2

W= U1 – U2 = G mEm _ G mEm
r2 r1

Thus, the gravitational potential energy is

U2 = G mEm
r
Case 1: Object moving toward the Earth
In this case, r decreases and the potential energy decreases as it
becomes more negative.

Case 2: Object moving away from the Earth.

Here, r increases and the potential energy increases as it becomes less
negative.

However, for objects near the earth acceleration of gravity (g) can be
considered to be approximately constant and the expression for potential energy
relative to the Earth's surface becomes:

Sample Problem 1:
Check your understanding of the concept of potential energy by answering the
question.

A cart is loaded with a brick and pulled at constant speed along an inclined
plane to the height of a seat-top. If the mass of the loaded cart is 3.0 kg and the
height of the seat top is 0.45 meters, then what is the potential energy of the loaded
cart at the height of the seat-top?

Solution:
U = m*g*h
U = (3 kg) * (9.8 m/s/s) * (0.45 m)
U = 13.2 J

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 6
Activity 1
1. In Newton’s third law of motion, every action result in an equal and opposite
reaction, it also implies to Earth’s gravitational pull on any object such as moon
or celestial body results in an equal and opposite pull of the Earth as well.
2. inverse square proportionality
3. increases
4. No, because the twice-as-tall apple tree is not twice as far from the earth’s
center. The taller tree would have to have a height equal to the radius of the
earth (6370 km) before the weight of the apple reduces to 1/4N. So as a practical
matter we disregard the effect of everyday changes in elevation
Activity 2
Exercises
1. Solution:
Fg = m1*m2/d2
Fg = (6.67 x10-11N.m2/kg2)(900kg)/(3.0m)2
= 6.0 x10-6 N
2. Solution:
Fg = m1*m2/d2
Fg = (6.67X10-11 N.m2/kg)(70.0kg)/378,000 km
Fg = 1.2x10-3 N
Activity 3
Exercise
U = m*g*h
U = 1kg(9.8m/s2)(50m)
U = 490N.m or J
V. Answer Key
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
did you cope with these failures?
In your young age, have you experienced “falling” moments or failures? How
IV. Reflection
energy of the ball? Assume that the reference position is the ground?
A ball with a mass of 1 kg is dropped at from a height of 50m. What is the potential
Exercise:
VI. Links and/or Other References

“Astronomy and Cosmology” Libretext. Accessed Nov. 10, 2020.

https://phys.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Astronomy/Cosmology_/Book%3A_Celest
ial_Mechanics_(Tatum)/05%3A_Gravitational_Field_and_Potential/5.02%3A_Gravit
ationa_field

“Gravitational Field: Definition and Formula”. Study.com. January 16, 2016.

https://study.com/academy/lesson/gravitational-field-definition-formula-
quiz.html

“Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation”. The Physics Classroom. Accessed Nov. 10,
2020. https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/circles/Lesson-3/Newton-s-Law-
of-Universal-Gravitation

Ward, Geoffrey C., and Ken Burns. The War: An Intimate History of the Second
World War. New York: Knopf, 2007.