Book Reference : Pages 62-63

Book Reference : Pages 56-57

1. To investigate how the gravitational field

strength varies as you move away from a
planet and also inside the planet
2. To begin to explore the concept of
Gravitational potential
Last lesson we used planetary data from our
solar system to confirm Newton’s law of
gravitation.
For a planet acting as a point mass M the
magnitude of the force of attraction on a mass m
can be given by :

F = GmM
r 2
The magnitude of the gravitational field strength,
(N/kg) is given by :

g = F/m = GM
r 2

For a planet of mass M and Radius R,

sketch a graph of the gravitational field
strength against distance from the
centre, R, 2R, 3R, 4R etc
Gravitational Field Strength

g
But what happens if we go inside
the planet (between 0 and R)?

g/4

g/9

0 R 2R 3R 4R
Distance from centre of planet with Radius R
Gravitational Field Strength
Tempting to think that within the
g planet g follows the curve and
increases dramatically. However,
inside the planet at a radius r, only the
mass inside the smaller sphere with
radius r applies, the mass outside r can
be ignored
At the centre the contributing mass is
g/4 0 and so g is 0

g/9

0 R 2R 3R 4R
Distance from centre of planet with Radius R
For a spherical planet with a density  show that
the gravitational field strength g inside the
planet at a radius r is given by
g = 4Gr/3
Volume of a sphere = 4/3  r3
Density = mass/volume ( = m/v)
m = v
m = 4/3 r3
g = Gm/r2
g = 4/3 Gr
HW : Read about Cavendish’s measurement of G:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavendish_experiment
Imagine you’re onboard a rocket wishing to leave
the surface of a planet
The gravitational field of the planet extends far
into space, (but weakens quickly with distance,
zero at )
The rocket must do work against gravity
If the engine and fuel does not provide enough
energy to escape you will always fall back
As the rocket climbs the Gravitational Potential
Energy (GPE) increases and vice versa
If the rocket was equipped with a “GPE meter” it
could be set to read zero when at 
It would give a negative reading on the surface
& increase towards zero as you move away
For the rocket to escape it must increase it’s GPE
to zero by doing work
The Gravitational Potential at a point in a
gravitational field is the GPE per unit mass and is
equal to the work done per unit mass in moving
from infinity to that point
The Gravitational potential V at a point is the
work done per unit mass to move a small object
from infinity to that point
V = work done / mass
Units : J/kg
An example :
A rocket with a payload of 1000kg attempts to
leave the surface of a planet with a gravitational
potential of -100MJ/kg. For the payload to
escape completely the GPE must increase from
1000 x -100MJ to zero.
To escape fully the work done must be
100,000MJ. If the payload is only given
40,000MJ of kinetic energy by the fuel it will
only be able to reach a position where the
gravitational field potential is -60 MJ/kg
In general if a small mass m is moved from a
gravitational potential V1 to a gravitational
potential V2 then the change in GPE is given by

Ep = m (V2 – V1)we can call (V2 – V1) V

Ep = mV
The work done to move the mass from V1 to V2
is equal to the change in GPE
W = mV