Gravitation

Types of Forces
• Gravitational Force:-
– Force between the earth and the moon. It is a
universal force i.e. it acts between any 2 objects in
the universe.
• Electromagnetic Force:-
– The force between 2 charged particles in motion.
• Nuclear Force:-
– The force between a proton and a neutron in the
nucleus of an atom.
 Effects of a force acting on an object

• A force can set a body in motion.

• A force can stop a moving body.
• A force acting on a body can change the speed
of the body.
• A force can change the direction of motion of
the body.
• A force can change the shape and size of the
body.
 Newton’s 3 laws of motion
• Newton’s 1st law of motion:-
– An object remains at rest or in a state of uniform motion
along a straight line unless an external unbalanced force acts
on it.
• Newton’s 2nd law of motion:-
– The rate of change of momentum is proportional to the
applied force and the change of momentum occurs in the
direction of the force.
• Newton’s 3rd law of motion:-
– Every action force has an equal and opposite reaction force
which acts simultaneously.
 Circular Motion
• It is a movement of an object along the
circumference of a circle or rotation along a
circular path.
 Centripetal Force
• A force acts on any object moving along a
circle and it is directed towards the centre of
the circle this is called centripetal force.
• This means that the object tries to go towards
the centre of the circle because of this force.
 Kepler’s laws of planetary motion
• The orbit of a planet is an ellipse with the sun
at 1 of the foci.
• The line joining the planet and the sun sweeps
equal areas in equal intervals of time.
• The square of the period of revolution of a
planet around the sun is directly proportional
to the cube of the mean distance of the planet
from the sun
 Newton’s universal law of Gravitation
• Every object in the universe attracts every other
object with a definite force. This force is directly
proportional to the product of the masses of the
2 objects and inversely proportional to the square
of the distance between them.
• Equal and opposite force is applied between the
2. The distance between the 2 is d.

m1 m2
 The Earth’s Gravitational Force
• The gravitational force on any object due to
the earth is always directed towards the
centre of the earth. If the object is on the
earth’s surface, in the usual notation.
 The earth’s gravitational acceleration

• The acceleration produced in a body due to

the earth’s gravitational force is called the
acceleration due to the gravity or the earth’s
gravitational acceleration and its magnitude is
denoted by g.
• It is directed towards the earth’s centre.
 Value of g
g=

g=

Therefore,
G=9.77
 Variation in value of g
A. Change along the surface of the earth
B. Change with height
C. Change with depth
 Gravitational Acceleration Depends on the
following Factors
• Mass:-
– The amount of matter present in it.
– SI unit is Kg
• Weight:-
– The force with which the earth attracts the object.
– Its magnitude is mg
– SI unit is Newton
• Free Fall:-
– Body moves under the influence of gravity alone, it is said to be falling freely.
– v=gt
– s=(1/2)g*t*t
– v*v=2gs
 Gravitational Potential Energy
• The gravitational potential energy of an object
at a height h from the earth’s surface
= =
• For smaller distances i.e. heights, the potential
energy is less than 0, i.e. it is negative.
• When the object is at larger distances it is
appropriate to consider the potential energy
as 0.
 Escape Velocity
• The body overcomes the earth’s gravitational
attraction.
• It will then move to infinity and come to rest
there.
 Total Energy
• The total energy of the body revolving around
the earth = Kinetic energy + Potential Energy
• =
 Uniform Circular Motion of a planet around
the Sun
• Centripetal force acting on the planet =
gravitational force exerted by the sun on the
planet
• Centripetal acceleration of the planet,
a=
• The period of revolution of the planet,
T=
 Numericals
1. Mahendra and Virat are sitting at a distance
of 1meter from each other. Their masses are
75kg and 80kg respectively. What is the
Gravitational force between them?
Ans:- r=1m ; m1=75kg; m2=80kg

Therefore F=4.002*
 Numericals
2. Calculate the gravitational force due to the
earth on Mahindra in the earlier example.
Ans:- Mass of Earth = 6* kg
Radius of the earth = 6.4 * m
Mahendra’s mass = m = 75kg
Therefore F= 733N
 Numericals
3. If a person weighs 750N on earth, how much
would be his weight on moon given that
moon’s mass is 1/81 of that of earth and it’s
radius is 1/3.7 times of the earth?
Ans:- 126.8N
 Numericals
4. An iron ball of mass 3kg is released from a height of 125m and falls freely
to the ground. Assuming that the value of g is 10m/s2, Calculate;
i. Time taken for the ball to reach the ground.
ii. Velocity of the ball on reaching the ground.
iii. The height of the ball at half the time it takes to reach the ground.
Ans:-
iv. s=ut +(1/2)at*t
t=5s
v. v=u+at
v=50m/s
iii. s=ut +(1/2)at*t
s= 31.25m
height at half time = 125-31.25 = 93.75m
 Numericals
5. Calculate the escape velocity on the surface of
the moon given the mass and radius of the
moon to be 7.34* kg and 1.74* kg.
Ans:- 2.37km/s
Thank You