Course No.
PHY- 1103(B), Mechanics and Properties of Matter, Physics Discipline, KU
Chapter - 5
Gravitation
Md. Shohel Parvez
Assistant Professor
Physics Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna
What is Gravitation?
Gravity, or gravitation, is a natural phenomenon by which all things with
mass are brought toward (or gravitate toward) one another, including
objects ranging from atoms and photons, to planets and stars.
Or, the force of attraction between any two masses.
Gravity is most accurately described by the general theory of relativity
(proposed by Albert Einstein in 1915) which describes gravity not as a
force, but as a consequence of the curvature of space-time caused by the
uneven distribution of mass. The most extreme example of this curvature
of space-time is a black hole, from which nothing not even light—can
escape once past the black hole's event horizon.
Gravity is the weakest of the four fundamental forces of physics.
Kepler’s Laws:
From the ancient time, different scientists have interest on celestial
bodies, motion of earth, stars, sun moon etc. The first astronomical
observations, of which we have any definite knowledge, were perhaps
made by the Chinese, as far back as 2000 B. C. though the Babylonian
astronomers are credited with having mapped out the constellations even
earlier, near about 2700 B. C. Anyway Kepler’s, assistant of Tycho
Brahe gave three famous law about the motion of earth. The first two in
the year 1609 and the third, ten years later, in 1619.
First Law:
The path of a planet is an elliptical orbit, with the Sun at one of its
foci. This is fittingly known as the Law of elliptical orbits.
or, every planet moves in an elliptical orbit with the sun being at one of
its foci.
Second Law:
The radius vector, drawn from the sun to a planet, sweeps out equal
areas in equal time. i.e., its areal velocity (or, the area swept out by it per
unit time) is a constant. This is referred to as the Law of areas.
Or, the radius vector drawn from the sun to the planet sweeps out
equal areas in equal intervals of time.
Third law:
The square of a planet’s year (i.e., its time-period, or its time of
revolution round the sun) is proportional to the cube of the major semi-
axis of its orbit. This is known as the Harmonic Law.
Or, the square of the time period of revolution of a planet around the
sun is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of the orbit.
Thus if T and t are the time period and A and a are the semi-major
axes of the planets respectively, then
𝑇 2 𝐴3
2
= 3
𝑡 𝑎
𝑇2
Or, = 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡
𝐴3
𝑇 2 ∞𝐴3
Gravitational Attraction:
The force of attraction between all masses in the universe; especially
the attraction of the earth's mass for bodies near its surface.
The more remote the body the less the gravity"; "the gravitation
between two bodies is proportional to the product of their masses and
inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them";
“Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love"--
Albert Einstein.
Newton’s law of Gravitation:
The motion of the planets round the sun led Newton to formulate the
Universal Law of Gravitation. According to Newton, this law is true not
only for the heavenly bodies but is also true for any two bodies in this
universe. The law holds good for the force of attraction between the sun
and the earth, for attraction between the moon and the earth, for the
attraction of an electron in the orbit and the nucleus in the atom etc.
According to this law:
Every body in this universe attracts every other body with a force
which is directly proportional to the product of their masses and
inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their
centres.
Consider two bodies A and B of masses M and m respectively. The
distance between their centres is R.
𝐹 ∞ 𝑀𝑚 … … … (𝑖)
1
𝐹∞ 2 … … … . (𝑖𝑖)
𝑅
Combining (i) and (ii)
𝑀𝑚
𝐹∞ 2
𝑅
𝑀𝑚
𝐹=𝐺 2
𝑅
Here G is the universal constant of gravitation
If M= m =1 and R =1, then
F=G
The constant of gravitation is numerically equal to the force of attraction
between two unit masses at unit distance apart.
G = 6.67× 10−11 𝑁𝑚2 𝑘𝑔−2
Kepler’s Law from Newton’s Law:
Let us consider a planets moves around the sun with velocity v. The
radius of the path is r or the distance between the sun and planet is r.
Let the mass of sun is M and the mass of planet is m and also the
time period of planet is T.
According to the Newton’s law of gravitation the attraction force
between sun and planet is
𝐺𝑀𝑚
𝐹𝑔 = …………………. 1
𝑟2
Where G is the gravitational constant.
Again the centripetal force due to circular motion of planet is
𝑚𝑣 2
𝐹𝑝 = 𝑟 … … … … … … … … … … (2)
The centripetal force is supplied by the attraction force between sun and
planet. So
𝐹𝑔 = 𝐹𝑝
𝐺𝑀𝑚 𝑀𝑣 2
=
𝑟2 𝑟
𝐺𝑀
= 𝑣2 … … … … … … … … … . . (3)
𝑟
Since the time period of planet is T. So the planet needs T time to revolve
once around the sun. Then the linear velocity of the planet is
2𝜋𝑟
𝑣=
𝑇
Putting these value in equation (3) we get,
𝐺𝑀 2𝜋𝑟 2
=( )
𝑟 𝑇
𝐺𝑀 4𝜋 2 𝑟 2
=
𝑟 𝑇2
4𝜋 2
𝑇2 = × 𝑟3
𝐺𝑀
𝑇 2 = 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 × 𝑟 3
4𝜋2
Where = 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡
𝐺𝑀
𝑇2 ∞ 𝑟3
Which is the third law of Kepler’s. Or the square of time period of
revolution of a planet around the sun is proportional to the cube
of the semi-major axis of the orbit.
Gravitational Potential:
The gravitational potential at a location is equal to the work (energy
transferred) per unit mass that would be needed to move the object from
a fixed reference location to the location of the object. It is analogous to
the electric potential with mass playing the role of charge. The reference
location, where the potential is zero, is by convention infinitely far away
from any mass, resulting in a negative potential at any finite distance.
Or, the work need to be done for transferring unit mass from infinite
distance to a gravitational field of another body. It is generally denoted
by V.
Consider a particle A of mass m. P is a point at a distance r from A.
the gravitational intensity at P,
𝐹 𝐺𝑀
𝐸= = …………….(1)
𝑚 𝑟2
Gravitational potential at a point is defined as the amount of work done
in moving a unit mass from the point to infinity against the gravitational
force of attraction.
A
P
M r
From equation (1) we can write,
𝑑𝑉
𝐸=−
𝑑𝑟
𝑑𝑉 = −𝐸 × 𝑑𝑟
𝐺𝑀
𝑑𝑉 = − 𝑑𝑟
𝑟2
Integrating between the limits infinity and r,
∞
−𝐺𝑀 𝐺𝑀 ∞ 𝐺𝑀 𝐺𝑀
𝑑𝑉 = 2
𝑑𝑟 = [ ]𝑟 = −
𝑟 𝑟 𝑟 ∞ 𝑟
𝐺𝑀
𝑉=−
𝑟
The gravitational potential at a point due to a point mass
𝐺𝑀
= −
𝑟
It is maximum and zero at infinity. At all other points it is less than zero
i.e., a negative value. Gravitational potential at a point is a scalar
quantity.
Gravitational field:
The space around a body (of mass M) within which the gravitational
force of attraction is perceived is called gravitational field.
Or the gravitational field or intensity at a point is the force
experienced by a unit mass at that point.
If the gravitational field at a point is E, the force acting on a mass m is F,
𝐹 = 𝑚𝐸
𝐹
𝐸=
𝑚
Also the gravitational field is defined as the negative gradient of
gravitational potential.
𝑑𝑉
∴ 𝐸=−
𝑑𝑥
Escape Velocity:
Escape velocity is defined as the velocity with which a body has to
be projected vertically upwards from the earth’s surface so that it escapes
the earth’s gravitational field altogether.
In physics, escape velocity is the minimum speed needed for an
object to escape from the gravitational influence of a massive body.
Escape velocity is the speed that an object needs to be traveling to
break free of a planet or moon's gravity well and leave it without further
propulsion. For example, a spacecraft leaving the surface of Earth needs
to be going 7 miles per second, or nearly 25,000 miles per hour to leave
without falling back to the surface or falling into orbit.
If v is the escape velocity then the initial kinetic energy of projection
1
𝑚𝑣 2 must be equal to the work done in moving the body from the
2
surface of the earth to infinity. In such a case, the body does not return to
the earth’s surface,
Mass of the earth = 𝑀
Radius of the earth = 𝑅
Constant of Gravitation = 𝐺
Mass of the body = 𝑚
Suppose a body is at a distance x from the earth’s centre. The force of
gravity acting on the body
𝐺𝑀𝑚
=
𝑥2
If the body is to be moved through a small distance dx away from the
earth’s surface
𝐺𝑀𝑚
Work done, d𝑊 = 𝑑𝑥 … … … … … … (1)
𝑥2
Work done in moving the body from the surface of the earth to
infinity
∞
𝐺𝑀𝑚
𝑑𝑤 = 2
. 𝑑𝑥 … … … … . . (2)
𝑅 𝑥
𝐺𝑀𝑚
𝑤= … … … … … … … … (3)
𝑅
1
𝐾. 𝐸 = 𝑚𝑣 2
2
1 𝐺𝑀𝑚
∴ 𝑚𝑣 2 =
2 𝑅
2𝐺𝑀
𝑣= … … … … … … … … … … (4)
𝑅
Also at the surface of the earth
𝐺𝑀𝑚
𝑚𝑔 =
𝑅2
𝐺𝑀 = g𝑅2 … … … … … … … … … … … . 5
Substituting this value of GM in equation (4)
𝑣 = 2𝑔𝑅
The value of g at the earth’s surface = 9.80 𝑚𝑠 −2 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑅 = 64 × 105 𝑚
𝑣= 2 × 9.80 × 64 × 105
𝑣 = 11.2 × 103 𝑚/𝑠
𝑣 = 11.2 𝒌𝒎/𝒔
If a body is projected vertically upwards with a velocity of 11.2 km/s
or more, it will not return to the earth’s surface.
Motions of Satellites:
In the solar system, different planets revolve round the sun, the radii
of the orbits and their time periods of revolution are different for
different planets. In these cases, the force of gravitation between the sun
and the planet provides the necessary centripetal force. Similarly the
moon
revolves around the earth and the force of gravitation between the
earth and moon provides the necessary centripetal force for the moon to
be in the orbit. Here moon is the satellite of the earth.
From 1957, many artificial satellites around the earth have been
launched. These satellites are put into orbits with the help of multistage
rockets.
Orbital Velocity:
Suppose a satellite of mass m is moving in an orbit of radius r around
the earth. If v is the velocity of the satellite in its orbit, the necessary
𝑚𝑣 2
centripetal force is provided by the gravitational force of
𝑟
attraction between the earth and satellite.
𝐺𝑀𝑚
Gravitational force =
𝑟2
Here, M is the mass of the earth,
𝑚𝑣 2 𝐺𝑀𝑚
∴ = 2
𝑟 𝑟
𝐺𝑀
𝑜𝑟, 𝑣= …………….. 1
𝑟
If g is the acceleration due to gravity at the position of the satellite,
𝐺𝑀𝑚
𝑚𝑔 = 2
𝑟
𝐺𝑀
𝑜𝑟, = 𝑔𝑟 … … … … … … … … . . (2)
𝑟
From eqn. (1) and (2) we get
𝑣 = 𝑔𝑟
For satellite, revolving very near the earths surface,
𝑣 = 𝑔𝑟 = 𝑔𝑅 (3)
Taking the value of g
𝑔 = 9.80 𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑅 = 64 × 105 𝑚
𝑠2
𝑆𝑜 𝑣= 9.80 × 64 × 105
= 7920 𝑚 𝑠
= 7.920 𝑘𝑚 𝑠
Time Period:
From eqn. (1)
𝐺𝑀
𝑣=
𝑟
𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑣 = 𝑟𝜔
𝐺𝑀
∴ 𝑟𝜔 =
𝑟
𝐺𝑀
𝜔= 4
𝑟3
The time period of revolution of the satellite is given by
2𝜋 𝑟3
𝑇= = 2𝜋
𝜔 𝐺𝑀
But 𝑟 = 𝑅 + ℎ
(𝑅+ℎ)3
𝑇 = 2𝜋
𝐺𝑀
From equation (2) 𝐺𝑀 = 𝑔𝑟 2 = 𝑔(𝑅 + ℎ)2
(𝑅 + ℎ)3
∴ 𝑇 = 2𝜋
𝑔(𝑅 + ℎ)2
𝑅+ℎ
𝑇 = 2𝜋 5
𝑔
When h << R,
𝑅
𝑇 = 2𝜋 (6)
𝑔
Stationary Satellite:
Consider a satellite in a circular orbit round the earth. It is coplanar with
the equator of the earth. This satellite appears to be stationary to the
observer on the earth. Such satellites are used widely for television and
radio broadcasting.
The angular velocity of this satellite is given by
2𝜋
𝜔= , 𝐻𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑇 = 24 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 = 86400 𝑠
𝑇
2𝜋 −5
𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠
𝜔= = 7.3 × 10
86400 𝑠
The distance of such a satellite from the centre of the earth is given by
𝐺𝑀
𝜔=
𝑟3
𝐺𝑀
𝑟 = ( 2 )1 3
𝜔 1/3
−11 24
6.67 × 10 × 5.98 × 10
=
(7.3 × 10−5 )2
𝑟 = 4.2 × 107 𝑚
This distance is about 6.6 times the radius of the earth. The distance of
such a satellite from the surface of the earth is
ℎ = 𝑟 − 𝑅 = 42 × 106 − 6.4 × 106
ℎ = 35.6 × 106 𝑚
ℎ = 3.56 × 107 𝑚