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Gravity field surrounding Earth from a macroscopic perspective. Newton's law of universal gravitation can be written as a vector equation to account for the direction of the gravitational force as well as its magnitude. In this formula, quantities in bold represent vectors.
A set of equations describing the trajectories of objects subject to a constant gravitational force under normal Earth-bound conditions.Assuming constant acceleration g due to Earth's gravity, Newton's law of universal gravitation simplifies to F = mg, where F is the force exerted on a mass m by the Earth's gravitational field of strength g.
In physics, gravity (from Latin gravitas 'weight' [1]) is a fundamental interaction primarily observed as mutual attraction between all things that have mass.Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 10 38 times weaker than the strong interaction, 10 36 times weaker than the electromagnetic force and 10 29 times weaker than the weak interaction.
A common misconception occurs between centre of mass and centre of gravity.They are defined in similar ways but are not exactly the same quantity. Centre of mass is the mathematical description of placing all the mass in the region considered to one position, centre of gravity is a real physical quantity, the point of a body where the gravitational force acts.
For this purpose, the Gaussian gravitational constant was historically in widespread use, k = 0.017 202 098 95 radians per day, expressing the mean angular velocity of the Sun–Earth system. [citation needed] The use of this constant, and the implied definition of the astronomical unit discussed above, has been deprecated by the IAU since 2012.
The change in potential energy moving from the surface (a distance from the center) to a height above the surface is = + = (+ /). If / is small, as it must be close to the surface where is constant, then this expression can be simplified using the binomial approximation + / to [()] (). As the gravitational field is = /, this reduces to .
Electromagnetic forces are tremendously stronger than gravity, but tend to cancel out so that for astronomical-scale bodies, gravity dominates. Electrical and magnetic phenomena have been observed since ancient times, but it was only in the 19th century James Clerk Maxwell discovered that electricity and magnetism are two aspects of the same ...
The most familiar non-contact force is gravity, which confers weight. [1] In contrast, a contact force is a force which acts on an object coming physically in contact with it. [1] All four known fundamental interactions are non-contact forces: [2] Gravity, the force of attraction that exists among all bodies that have mass. The force exerted on ...