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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 ...
The effects of self-gravity have significance in the fields of astronomy, physics, seismology, geology, and oceanography. [3] [4] [5] The strength of self-gravity differs with regard to the size of an object, and the distribution of its mass. For example, unique gravitational effects are caused by the oceans on Earth [5] or the rings of Saturn. [4]
This formulation is dependent on the objects causing the field. The field has units of acceleration; in SI, this is m/s 2. Gravitational fields are also conservative; that is, the work done by gravity from one position to another is path-independent. This has the consequence that there exists a gravitational potential field V(r) such that
Gravimetry is the measurement of the strength of a gravitational field. Gravimetry may be used when either the magnitude of a gravitational field or the properties of matter responsible for its creation are of interest. The study of gravity changes belongs to geodynamics.
Both magnitude ("relative strength") and "range" of the associated potential, as given in the table, are meaningful only within a rather complex theoretical framework. The table below lists properties of a conceptual scheme that remains the subject of ongoing research.
Every object in a 2-body ballistic trajectory has a constant specific orbital energy equal to the sum of its specific kinetic and specific potential energy: = = =, where = is the standard gravitational parameter of the massive body with mass , and is the radial distance from its center. As an object in an escape trajectory moves outward, its ...
g is the gravitational field strength v is the velocity of the rocket Then the time-rate of change of the specific energy of the rocket is v ⋅ a {\displaystyle \mathbf {v} \cdot \mathbf {a} } : an amount v ⋅ ( a − g ) {\displaystyle \mathbf {v} \cdot (\mathbf {a} -\mathbf {g} )} for the kinetic energy and an amount v ⋅ g {\displaystyle ...
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.