Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
where F is the gravitational force acting between two objects, m 1 and m 2 are the masses of the objects, r is the distance between the centers of their masses, and G is the gravitational constant. The first test of Newton's law of gravitation between masses in the laboratory was the Cavendish experiment conducted by the British scientist Henry ...
No other gravity-producing objects exist. Although the term escape velocity is common, it is more accurately described as a speed than as a velocity because it is independent of direction. Because gravitational force between two objects depends on their combined mass, the escape speed also depends on mass.
For two pairwise interacting point particles, the gravitational potential energy is the work that an outside agent must do in order to quasi-statically bring the masses together (which is therefore, exactly opposite the work done by the gravitational field on the masses): = = where is the displacement vector of the mass, is gravitational force acting on it and denotes scalar product.
In Newton's law, it is the proportionality constant connecting the gravitational force between two bodies with the product of their masses and the inverse square of their distance. In the Einstein field equations , it quantifies the relation between the geometry of spacetime and the energy–momentum tensor (also referred to as the stress ...
Nothing "cancels" gravity, since it is only attractive, unlike electric forces which can be attractive or repulsive. On the other hand, all objects having mass are subject to the gravitational force, which only attracts. Therefore, only gravitation matters on the large-scale structure of the universe.
In particular, Newton proposed that the gravitational force between any two bodies was a central force F(r) that varied as the inverse square of the distance r between them. Arguing from his laws of motion, Newton showed that the orbit of any particle acted upon by one such force is always a conic section , specifically an ellipse if it does ...
A gravitational field is used to explain gravitational phenomena, such as the gravitational force field exerted on another massive body. It has dimension of acceleration (L/T 2) and it is measured in units of newtons per kilogram (N/kg) or, equivalently, in meters per second squared (m/s 2). In its original concept, gravity was a force between ...
The first equation shows that, after one second, an object will have fallen a distance of 1/2 × 9.8 × 1 2 = 4.9 m. After two seconds it will have fallen 1/2 × 9.8 × 2 2 = 19.6 m; and so on. On the other hand, the penultimate equation becomes grossly inaccurate at great distances.