NEWTON’S LAW OF GRAVITATION

A. Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation

B. Gravitational Field
C. Gravitational Potential Energy

● Gravitation is one of the four classes of interactions found in nature, and it was the
earliest of the four to be studied extensively.
● The law of universal gravitation allows you to calculate the gravitational force between
two objects from their masses and the distance between them. The law includes a value
called the gravitational constant, or “G.” This value is the same everywhere in the
universe.

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A. Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation
● Gravity is a force that acts at a distance, without physical contact
● Newton published the law of gravitation in 1687 which states that: “Every particle
of matter in the universe attracts every other particle with a force that is directly
proportional to the product of the masses of the particles and inversely
proportional to the square of the distance between them”

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■ where Fg is the magnitude of the gravitational force on either
particle,
■ m1 and m2 are their masses
■ r is the distance between them
■ G is the gravitational constant.
● The numerical value of G that was determined by Henry Cavendish using a
torsion balance is:

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B. Gravitational Field
● The gravitational field is the gravitational force per unit mass.
● To explain that a massive body stretch out into the space around itself,
generating a force on another massive body, a model of a gravitational field was
used.
● Due to earth’s gravitational field, a body with mass experienced a force. A
gravitational force equivalent to 9.8 N is exerted on each kilogram of mass, so
the gravitational field strength of the earth is 9.8 N/kg which is equivalent to 9.8
m/s2.

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C. Gravitational Potential Energy
● Gravitational potential energy is the energy possessed or acquired by an
object due to a change in its position when it is present in a gravitational
field. In simple terms, it can be said that gravitational potential energy is
an energy that is related to gravitational force or to gravity.
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