UNIVERSAL

GRAVITATION
Newton Law of Universal
Gravitation
◼ “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.”
Newton Law of Universal
Gravitation
◼ Mathematically, Newton’s law of universal
gravitation can be expressed as

◼ G is the universal gravitational constant

◼ It is a form of an inverse square law

Newton Law of Universal
Gravitation
◼ Example:
◼ Three 0.300-kg billiard balls are placed on a
table at the corners of a right triangle, as
shown from overhead in on next slide. (a) Find
the net gravitational force on the cue ball
(designated as m1) resulting from the forces
exerted by the other two balls. (b) Find the
components of the gravitational force of m2
on m3.
Newton Law of Universal
Gravitation
Newton Law of Universal
Gravitation
◼ a)
Newton Law of Universal
Gravitation
◼ b)
Newton Law of Universal
Gravitation
◼ If an object of mass m is on the
Earth’s surface then the magnitude
of the force that the Earth exerts
on the object becomes

◼ ME is Earth’s mass, RE is Earth’s

radius. This force is directed
towards the Earth’s center.
Newton Law of Universal
Gravitation
◼ If an object of mass m is at the
height h from the Earth’s surface
then the magnitude of the force
that the Earth exerts on the object
becomes

◼ Here r = ME + h
Newton Law of Universal
Gravitation
◼ From Newton’s second law of motion,

◼ Therefore acceleration due to gravity g

decreases with hieght
Newton Law of Universal
Gravitation
Gravitational Potential
Energy
◼ Potential energy associated with an
object could be calculated from the
equation PE = mgh, where h is the
height of the object above or below
some reference level.

◼ This equation, however, is valid only

when the object is near Earth’s surface.
 Gravitational Potential
Energy
◼ For objects high above Earth’s surface,
such as a satellite, an alternative must be
used, because g varies with distance from
the surface.
◼ The gravitational potential energy
associated with an object of mass m at a
distance r from the center of Earth is
Gravitational Potential
Energy
◼ EXAMPLE
◼ An asteroid with mass m =1.00 x 109
kg comes from deep space, effectively
from infinity, and falls toward Earth. (a)
Find the change in potential energy
when it reaches a point 4.00 x 108 m
from Earth (just beyond the Moon),
assuming it falls from rest at infinity. In
addition, find the work done by the
force of gravity.
Gravitational Potential
Energy
◼ Solution
 Escape speed (velocity)
◼ If an object is projected upward from
Earth’s surface with a large enough
speed, it can soar off into space and
never return. This speed is called
Earth’s escape speed.

◼ Earth’s escape speed can be found by

applying conservation of energy.
 Escape speed (velocity)
◼ Suppose an object of mass m is
projected vertically upward from Earth’s
surface with an initial speed vi. The
initial mechanical energy (kinetic plus
potential energy) of the object–Earth
system is given by
 Escape speed (velocity)

◼ We neglect air resistance and

assume that the initial speed is just
large enough to allow the object to
reach infinity with a speed of zero.
This value of vi is the escape speed
vesc.
 Escape speed (velocity)

◼ When the object is at an infinite

distance from Earth, its kinetic
energy is zero, because vf = 0, and
the gravitational potential energy is
also zero, because 1/r goes to zero
as r goes to infinity
 Escape speed (velocity)

◼ Hence the total mechanical energy

is zero, and the law of conservation
of energy gives
 Escape speed (velocity)

◼ The escape speed for Earth is about

11.2 km/s.
◼ Note that the expression for vesc
doesn’t depend on the mass of the
object projected from Earth, so a
spacecraft has the same escape
speed as a molecule.
Escape speed (velocity)
 Kepler’s Laws

◼ Kepler’s laws describe the motion

of planets around the sun..
Kepler’s First Law
◼ “All planets move in elliptical orbits with
the Sun at one focus.”

◼ The first law arises as a natural

consequence of the inverse-square
nature of Newton’s law of gravitation.
Any object bound to another by a force
that varies as 1/r2 will move in an
elliptical orbit.
Kepler’s First Law
◼ An ellipse is a curve drawn so that
the sum of the distances from any
point on the curve to two internal
points called focal points or foci
(singular, focus) is always the
same.
 Kepler’s First Law
◼ The semimajor axis a is half the length
of the line that goes across the ellipse
and contains both foci. For the Sun–
planet configuration, the Sun is at one
focus and the other focus is empty.
Because the orbit is an ellipse, the
distance from the Sun to the planet
continuously changes.
 Kepler’s Second Law
◼ “A line drawn from the Sun to any planet
sweeps out equal areas in equal time
intervals.”

◼ In a given period t, the planet moves from

point A to point B. The planet moves more
slowly on that side of the orbit because it’s
farther away from the sun.
 Kepler’s Second Law
◼ On the opposite side of its orbit, the planet
moves from point C to point D in the same
amount of time, t, moving faster because
it’s closer to the sun.

◼ Kepler’s second law says that any two

wedges formed as in the Figure on the
previous slide will always have the same
area
 Kepler’s Third Law
◼ “The square of the orbital period of any
planet is proportional to the cube of the
average distance from the planet to the
Sun.”

◼ The derivation of Kepler’s third law is

simple enough to carry out for the special
case of a circular orbit
 Kepler’s Third Law
◼ Consider a planet of mass Mp moving
around the Sun, which has a mass of MS ,
in a circular orbit. Because the orbit is
circular, the planet moves at a constant
speed v. Newton’s second law, his law of
gravitation, and centripetal acceleration
then give the following equation:
 Kepler’s Third Law
◼ The speed v of the planet in its orbit is
equal to the circumference of the orbit
divided by the time required for one
revolution, T, called the period of the
planet, so v = 2πr/T. Substituting, the
preceding expression becomes
 Kepler’s Third Law
◼ EXAMPLE
◼ From a telecommunications point of view, it’s
advantageous for satellites to remain at the same
location relative to a location on the Earth. This
can occur only if the satellite’s orbital period is the
same as the Earth’s period of rotation, 24.0 h. (a)
At what distance from the center of the Earth can
this geosynchronous orbit be found? (b) What’s the
orbital speed of the satellite?
 Kepler’s Third Law
◼ Solution
◼ (a)

◼ (b)
 Energy in Planetary and
Satellite Motion
◼ Consider a body of mass m moving with
a speed v in the vicinity of a massive
body of mass M, where M˃˃m

◼ The system might be a planet moving

around the Sun, a satellite (including
artificial satellites) in orbit around the
Earth, or a comet making a one-time
flyby of the Sun.
 Energy in Planetary and
Satellite Motion
◼ If we assume that the body of mass M
is at rest in an inertial reference frame,
then the total mechanical energy E of
the two-body system when the bodies
are separated by a distance r is the
sum of the kinetic energy of the body of
mass m and the potential energy of the
system, given by
 Energy in Planetary and
Satellite Motion
◼ This equation shows that E may be
positive, negative, or zero, depending
on the value of v.

◼ Newton’s second law applied to the

body of mass m gives
Energy in Planetary and
Satellite Motion
◼ Multiplying both sides by r and
dividing by 2 gives

◼ Therefore,
Energy in Planetary and
Satellite Motion
◼ This result clearly shows that the
total mechanical energy is
negative in the case of circular
orbits.

◼ Note that the kinetic energy is

positive and equal to one-half the
absolute value of the potential
energy.