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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 ...
The net result is that an object at the Equator experiences a weaker gravitational pull than an object on one of the poles. In combination, the equatorial bulge and the effects of the surface centrifugal force due to rotation mean that sea-level gravity increases from about 9.780 m/s 2 at the Equator to about 9.832 m/s 2 at the poles, so an ...
In classical mechanics, a gravitational field is a physical quantity. [5] A gravitational field can be defined using Newton's law of universal gravitation. Determined in this way, the gravitational field g around a single particle of mass M is a vector field consisting at every point of a vector pointing directly towards the particle. The ...
In physics, gravity (from Latin gravitas 'weight' [1]) is a fundamental interaction primarily observed as a 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.
Succinctly stated, Newton's law of gravitation states that the force on a spherical object of mass due to the gravitational pull of mass is = ^, where is the distance between the two objects' centers of mass and ^ is the unit vector pointed in the direction away from the center of the first object toward the center of the second object.
Objects orbiting in space would not remain in orbit if not for the gravitational force, and gravitational fields extend even into the depths of intergalactic space. [5] [6] [7] The dark side of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The dark (far) side of the Moon receives about the same amount of light from the Sun as the near side.
In special relativity, parallel geodesics remain parallel. In a gravitational field with tidal effects, this will not, in general, be the case. If, for example, two bodies are initially at rest relative to each other, but are then dropped in the Earth's gravitational field, they will move towards each other as they fall towards the Earth's center.
In 2015, the LIGO experiments directly detected gravitational radiation from two colliding black holes, making this the first direct observation of both gravitational waves and black holes. [123] It is believed that neutron star mergers (since detected in 2017) [124] and black hole formation may also create detectable amounts of gravitational ...