What is Newtons Law of Universal Gravitation? Newton’s Law of universal gravitation states that the gravitational force of attraction that exists between two bodies with mass is directly proportional to each mass and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between each mass. This all started with him sitting under a tree when an apple fell. Newton then realized that something was pulling that apple down towards the earth. Which led to another idea which was that the apple was pulling on earth also, but you couldn't tell because the apples force on earth was less obvious. |
The law of universal gravitation equation-F stands for force
-G is constant and it stands for universal gravity -m1 stands for object ones mass -m2 stands for object twos mass -r^2 is radius squared The Universal Law of Gravitation simply states that all objects of mass produce gravity, and are capable of attracting one another through these gravitational pulls. Newton new that big G had to be very small so he put the letter G in as a place holder. Later on Henry Cavendish found out the G was equal to 6.67x(10^-11N) m^2/kg^2 |
Gravity Gets Weaker with Distance
The distance between two objects is an important component of the law of universal gravitation. So it’s not the distance between the objects, its the square of that distance. Ex. if two objects are 2 km away from each other, you can’t just divide by 4. You have to divide by 4 x 4, which is 16. So if the objects are 4 km away from each other you have to divide by 256. So, even though the objects are only 4 times as far from each other, the force is actually going to be 16 times weaker
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Sourceshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_law_of_universal_gravitation https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-physics/chapter/newtons-law-of-universal-gravitation/ https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-law-of-universal-gravitation-definition-importance-examples.html |