UNIVERSAL LAW

OF GRAVITATION

ISAAC NEWTON
Newton’s Theory of Gravitation
Isaac Newton, 1642-1727

In 1666, our old friend, Isaac Newton, was musing

on the motions of heavenly bodies while sitting in a
garden in Lincolnshire England, where he had gone
to escape the plague then ravaging London.

What if the force of gravity, the same force that causes an apple to
fall to the ground in this garden, extends much further than usually
thought? What if the force of gravity extends all the way to the
moon? Newton began to calculate the consequences of his
assumption…
Questions:
 If the planets are
orbiting the sun , what
force is keeping them
in orbit?
 What force keeps the
moon in its orbit?
 Could the force of
gravity be universal?
Properties of Gravity
Object 2

Gravitational Force on 1 from 2

Object 1

 Every object with mass is attracted by every other object with mass.
 Gravity is a force at a distance (through occupied or empty space).
 Gravity is a “central” force (center-to-center for spherical bodies).
 Gravity varies as the inverse square of the center distance.
 Gravity varies as the product of the masses.
Newton’s Law of Universal
Gravitation
 Any two objects attract each other with a
gravitational force, proportional to the product
of their masses and inversely proportional to
the square of the distance between them.
 The force acts in the direction of the line
connecting the centers of the masses
m1m2
F G 2
r
 FORMULA
 m1 m 2
F  G 2 r̂
r
The meaning of each term:

F: Gravitational force on object 1 from object 2.
G: –11 2 2
Universal gravitational constant = 6.673 x 10 N m /kg .
m1 : Mass of object 1.
m2: Mass of object 2.
2
r : Center distance from object 1 to object 2, squared.
r̂ : Unit vector from object 1 to object 2.
The force that mass 1
exerts on mass 2 is equal
and opposite to the force
mass 2 exerts on mass 1
The forces form a
Newton’s third law action-
reaction

The gravitational force exerted by a uniform

sphere on a particle outside the sphere is the
same as the force exerted if the entire mass of
the sphere were concentrated on its center