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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.
The force is proportional to the product of the two masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them: [11] Diagram of two masses attracting one another = where F is the force between the masses; G is the Newtonian constant of gravitation (6.674 × 10 −11 m 3 ⋅kg −1 ⋅s −2);
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.
Arthur Stanley Mackenzie in The Laws of Gravitation (1899) reviews the work done in the 19th century. [28] Poynting is the author of the article "Gravitation" in the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1911). Here, he cites a value of G = 6.66 × 10 −11 m 3 ⋅kg −1 ⋅s −2 with a relative uncertainty of 0.2%.
The equivalence between gravitational and inertial effects does not constitute a complete theory of gravity. When it comes to explaining gravity near our own location on the Earth's surface, noting that our reference frame is not in free fall, so that fictitious forces are to be expected, provides a suitable explanation. But a freely falling ...
Applying Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation, the sum of the forces due to the mass elements in the shaded band is d F = G m s 2 d M . {\displaystyle dF={\frac {Gm}{s^{2}}}dM.} However, since there is partial cancellation due to the vector nature of the force in conjunction with the circular band's symmetry, the leftover component (in the ...
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.
He proposed that every body pulsates, which might be an explanation of gravitation and electric charges. His ideas were largely mechanistic and required the existence of the aether, which the Michelson–Morley experiment failed to detect in 1887. This, combined with Mach's principle, led to gravitational models which feature action at a distance.