Gravitational field

The gravitational field is the region of space surrounding a body in which another body
experiences a force of gravitational attraction. Consider the earth as an isolated mass; if a body is
now brought in the vicinity of the earth, a force is exerted on it. The direction of that force is
radially in toward the center of the earth and the magnitude is mg. The gravitational field strength
at any point is defined as the gravitational force per unit mass at that point, i.e.
𝑭 𝑚𝒈
𝑬𝐺 = = =𝒈
𝑚 𝑚
We calculate the force from the field simply by multiplying g by the mass m of the particle placed
at any point. The gravitational field strength is measured in Newtons per kilogram (N/kg).

Gravitational potential
Let a body of mass M is under gravitational field and in that field another body of small mass m at
point A which is being attractive. If a body of mass m is taken from A to B, then the force has to
be applied on A because it is being attractive by the mass M. By applying an equal and opposite
force, there is a displacement so that a certain work has to be done. The work-energy theorem says
𝑊 = ∆𝑈 = 𝑈B − 𝑈A

A B

M m
This is potential energy difference between A and B which is equal to work done.
Now, the difference of energies at two points A and B is known as potential difference which is
defined as
VA (final) – VB (initial) = work done for carrying mass from B to A.
For a mass m, if the work done from B to A is WBA, then the potential difference between A and
B is the amount of that work done from B to A on unit mass
𝑉A − 𝑉B = 𝑊BA /𝑚 = −𝑊AB /𝑚
The potential difference is basically the characteristics of two points and all these points must be
in the gravitational field. If the location of B is far away i.e. infinity, then the force/field by this
mass is zero so that the potential at B (VB) can be zero. Therefore, the potential at A is given by
𝑉A = −𝑊A∞ /𝑚 = 𝑊∞A /𝑚
Thus the potential at a point A is defined as the amount of work done for carrying unit (1 kg) mass
from infinity to that point A.
 Gravitational potential Energy
As shown in the figure, if the two masses m1 and m2 are located at a distance r, we need to calculate
the potential energy of this system? These two particles are placed at a distance of r, some work
might have been done and that work is stored in it as its potential energy.

First we search a point of zero energy. If we place m2 and move it, no work has to be done so that
we can say m2 is at infinity, the PE is zero that is our starting point. From here, the gravitational
force is allowed to bring it this direction shown by the red dashed arrow, some work is being done
because of force into displacement.
Now the energy or work done is the force multiplied by displacement but the force is variable at
different points because the distance is changing. So, we cannot multiply any one value of force at
this total distance.
Let’s we take any arbitrary point of mass (m2) which is at a distance x, if m2 is located at x then it
is experiencing a force. At a distance x the force is
𝐺𝑚1 𝑚2
𝐹= (1)
𝑥2
The PE of this system is the work done on the system to bring them from infinity to r. Above form
(1) is our starting point, the force is at an arbitrary distance x. Since, the force is keep on changing
for this large distance so that for a very small distance dx, the value of force is not changing that
value of force can be multiplied by dx to give the work done. Now, a small work done to cover a
very small distance dx is
𝐺𝑚1 𝑚2 𝐺𝑚1 𝑚2
𝑑𝑊 = 𝐹𝑑𝑥 cos𝜃 = 𝑑𝑥 cos0° = 𝑑𝑥
𝑥2 𝑥2
The total work done is
𝑟
𝐺𝑚1 𝑚2 −2
𝐺𝑚1 𝑚2
𝑊∞𝑟 = ∫ 𝑑𝑊 = ∫ 𝑑𝑥 = 𝐺𝑚1 𝑚 2 ∫ 𝑥 𝑑𝑥 = −
𝑥2 ∞ 𝑟
Therefore, the PE of a system of two particles at distance r is
𝐺𝑚1 𝑚2
𝑈 = 𝑊∞𝑟 = −
𝑟
The minus sign indicates that the potential energy is negative at any finite distance; that is, the
potential energy is zero at infinity and decreases as the separation distance decreases. This
corresponds to the fact that the gravitational force exerted on m by M is attractive. As the particle
moves in from infinity, the work 𝑊∞𝑟 done by this force on the particle is positive, i.e. U(r) is
negative.
P1. What is the gravitational potential energy of the Moon-Earth system, relative to the potential
energy at infinite separation? Given that the masses of the Earth and the Moon are 6 x 1024 kg and
7.36 x 1022 kg, respectively, and their mean separation distance d is 3.82 x 108 m.

P32. (a) What is the gravitational potential energy of the two particle system of masses M and m
separated by d? If you triple the separation between the particles, how much work is done (b) by
the gravitational force between the particles and (c) by you?
𝐺𝑀𝑚
𝑈=−
𝑑
𝐺𝑀𝑚 𝐺𝑀𝑚
∆𝑈 = − − (− )
3𝑑 𝑑
Work done by the gravitational force, 𝑊 = −∆𝑈
Work done by you, 𝑊 = +∆𝑈

P2. What will be the gravitational potential at the center of the square consisting four particles
each of mass m placed at the verticals of a square of side d?

4𝐺𝑚
𝑉=− ∵ 𝑂𝐴 = 𝑂𝐵 = 𝑂𝐶 = 𝑂𝐷 = 𝑑/√2
𝑑/√2

P35. Above figure shows four particles, each of mass m, that form a square with an edge length of
d. If the final edge length is d/3 in terms of original edge length, what is the change in the
gravitational potential energy of the four-particle system?
4𝐺𝑚2 2𝐺𝑚2
𝑈𝑖 = − − ∵ 𝐴𝐵 = 𝐵𝐶 = 𝐶𝐷 = 𝐷𝐴 = 𝑑 & 𝐴𝐶 = 𝐵𝐷 = √2𝑑
𝑑 √2𝑑
𝐺𝑚2
∆𝑈 = 𝑈𝑓 − 𝑈𝑖 = 3𝑈𝑖 − 𝑈𝑖 = 2𝑈𝑖 = − (8 + 2√2)
𝑑
Escape velocity
We already found the gravitational potential energy of a particle of mass m at the surface of the
earth as in equation (3). The amount of work is required to move a body from the surface of the
earth to infinity is GMem/re. If we could give a projectile more than this energy at the surface of
the earth by ignoring the resistance of the earth’s atmosphere, then it would escape from the earth
never to return. The critical initial speed, called the escape speed ve, such that the projectile does
not return.
If ve is the escape speed, its initial kinetic energy (i.e., at the time it starts) will be mve2/2. This
energy must, therefore, be equal to the work done by it during escape so that

1 𝐺𝑀𝑚
𝑚𝑣𝑒2 =
2 𝑟
2𝐺𝑀𝑒
∴ 𝑣𝑒 = √ = √2𝑔𝑟𝑒 (4)
𝑟𝑒
Should a projectile be given this initial speed (4), it would escape from the earth never to return.

Several conditions/assumptions for the gravitational escape velocity:

 Freely moving object
 Mass of object not a factor
 High altitude necessary for escape
 Effect of planetary rotation ignored
 Effect of other objects not included
P33. What multiple of the energy needed to escape from Earth gives the energy needed to escape
from (a) the Moon and (b) Jupiter?
𝐾𝑚 𝑀𝑚 𝑟𝐸
=
𝐾𝐸 𝑀𝐸 𝑟𝑚

𝐾𝐽 𝑀𝐽 𝑟𝐸
=
𝐾𝐸 𝑀𝐸 𝑟𝐽

P2. A satellite is revolving in a circular orbit at a height h from the earth’s surface (radius of the
earth R; h << R). What is the minimum increase in its orbital velocity required for satellite to
escape from the earth’s gravitational field (Neglect the atmospheric effect)?

Let the orbital velocity of a satellite is v when a satellite is revolving in a circular orbit at a height
h from the earth’s surface, where r (= R + h) is the distance from the satellite to the center of the
earth. Then we have
𝑚𝑣 2 𝐺𝑀𝑚
= 2 ⇒ 𝑣 = √𝐺𝑀/𝑟
𝑟 𝑟
If 𝑣𝑒 be the velocity of the satellite when escapes the earth’s gravitational field, so that we can get
𝑚𝑣𝑒 2 𝐺𝑀𝑚
= ⇒ 𝑣𝑒 = √2𝐺𝑀/𝑟
2 𝑟
Therefore,
𝑣𝑒 − 𝑣 = √2𝐺𝑀/𝑅 − √𝐺𝑀/𝑅 = √𝐺𝑀/𝑅(√2 − 1) ∵𝑟≈ 𝑅

𝑣𝑒 = 𝑣 + √𝐺𝑀/𝑅(√2 − 1)
Escape velocity
The whole essence of escape velocity is that an object’s mass should be negligible compared to
that of another’s. The smaller object would want itself to be freed from the gravitational pull of
the larger object; it would require a kinetic energy which is equal to its gravitational potential
energy. The velocity required for acquiring such kinetic energy is what we call as escape velocity.
But if the masses of both the objects are equal, then generally the gravitational force between them
is negligible compared to other forces acting on them.
But there can be case when even having equal masses, the objects are attached to each other by
virtue of the gravitational force between them. For such thing to happen, their masses should be
very large and the distance between their centre of masses very small, which would only happen
if both posses very high density. Also, if we consider a hypothetical situation where the both
objects are free from any external influence and the gravitation force between them is the only
force, then also there can be talk of escape velocity. For both such cases, we can derive the escape
velocity by,
(1/2)mv2 = (Gmm)/R
v = (2Gm/R)1/2
But I am still of the view that we cannot talk about escape velocity when the masses of both the
objects are equal.
Is escape velocity the same for all objects?

1. Yes. Ignoring the interaction between the atmosphere and the vehicle, Escape velocity does
not depend on the flying object's mass, but only on that of the earth. The precise formula is
𝑣𝑒 = √2𝐺𝑀𝑒 /𝑅𝑒
2. Given that the spacecraft of mass m is moving initially with escape speed ve away from Earth,
and given that the speed of Earth (of mass M) is initially 0, therefore the center of mass (COM)
of these two objects moves always at speed (with respect to the system in which Earth had
initially speed 0):
𝑚
𝑢= 𝑣
𝑀+𝑚 𝑒
In an idealized "escape experiment" both the spacecraft and Earth should eventually be moving
almost at the same speed u as the COM system; that's when the (non-relativistically approximated)
initial kinetic energies of the spacecraft and of Earth (with respect to the COM system) are almost
(and ever more fully) converted to (also approximate) gravitational potential energy. Equating
these initial kinetic energies and gravitational potential energy:
𝑚 𝑀 𝑀𝑚
(𝑣𝑒 − 𝑢)2 + 𝑢2 = 𝐺
2 2 𝑅
𝑚𝑀 𝑀𝑣𝑒 2 𝑀𝑚 𝑚𝑣𝑒 2 𝑣𝑒 2 𝑚𝑀 𝑀𝑚
2
+ 2
= =𝐺
(
2 𝑀+𝑚 ) (
2 𝑀+𝑚 ) 2 𝑀+𝑚 𝑅

𝑣𝑒 = √2𝐺(𝑀 + 𝑚 )/𝑅
and in practical cases m << M, 𝑣𝑒 = √2𝐺𝑀/𝑅
How about the escape velocity for the same masses of objects???