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Understanding Newton's Law of Gravitation

The document summarizes Newton's law of gravitation, which states that every object in the universe attracts every other object with a force proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. It provides the gravitational constant G and its value, and notes some key properties of gravitational forces, including that they are always attractive. It then discusses how the gravitational force of Earth produces an acceleration due to gravity g, providing the equation relating gravitational force, mass, and radius of Earth.

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Chunchu Anil
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8 views13 pages

Understanding Newton's Law of Gravitation

The document summarizes Newton's law of gravitation, which states that every object in the universe attracts every other object with a force proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. It provides the gravitational constant G and its value, and notes some key properties of gravitational forces, including that they are always attractive. It then discusses how the gravitational force of Earth produces an acceleration due to gravity g, providing the equation relating gravitational force, mass, and radius of Earth.

Uploaded by

Chunchu Anil
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

GRAVITATION

Newton’s law of gravitation : Every body in this universe attracts every other
body with an equal and opposite force proportional to product of masses of
objects and inversely proportional to square of distance between their centres

F = G .m1. m2 / r2

m1,m2 = masses of objects 1 and 2

F = force

G = gravitational constant

NOTE :

1. G value was first given by Cavendish using torsional balance


2. G = 6.67 × 10-11 N m2 / kg2
3. Value of G doesn’t depend on medium, nature and size of bodies
4. Gravitational forces are always attractive in nature while electric &
magnetic forces can be attractive or repulsive
5. Holds good for wide range of distances
6. It is central line force i.e, acts along line joining centres of two interacting
bodies
7. It is 2 body interaction and is independent of other masses present
8. It is weakest force in nature : nuclear>electromagnetic>gravitational
9. Ratio of gravitational force to electrostatic force between 2 electrons
[Link] is conservative force…it is not path dependent

Acceleration due to gravity :

Earth exerts a force of attraction on bodies. This is called gravitational pull or


gravity

When a force acts on a body, it produces acceleration(g)

F = mg  (1)
F = G m1 m2 / r2 = G M m / R2  (2)

(1) = (2)

g = G M / R2

Where M = mass of earth = density × volume

R = Radius of earth

m = mass of body
Force: rate of change of linear momentum

Torque: rate of change of angular momentum

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