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For two pairwise interacting point particles, the gravitational potential energy is the work done by the gravitational force in bringing the masses together: = =, where is the displacement vector between the two particles and denotes the scalar product.
In physics and engineering, a free body diagram (FBD; also called a force diagram) [1] is a graphical illustration used to visualize the applied forces, moments, and resulting reactions on a free body in a given condition. It depicts a body or connected bodies with all the applied forces and moments, and reactions, which act on the body(ies).
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.
In short, such a solution is a model universe that satisfies the laws of general relativity, and possibly additional laws governing whatever matter might be present. [ 53 ] Einstein's equations are nonlinear partial differential equations and, as such, difficult to solve exactly. [ 54 ]
The Penrose–Hawking singularity theorems (after Roger Penrose and Stephen Hawking) are a set of results in general relativity that attempt to answer the question of when gravitation produces singularities.
Analogously, the world lines of test particles in free fall are spacetime geodesics, the straightest possible lines in spacetime. But still there are crucial differences between them and the truly straight lines that can be traced out in the gravity-free spacetime of special relativity. In special relativity, parallel geodesics remain parallel.
The first test of Newton's law of gravitation between masses in the laboratory was the Cavendish experiment conducted by the British scientist Henry Cavendish in 1798. [5] It took place 111 years after the publication of Newton's Principia and approximately 71 years after his death.
In physics, reduced mass is a measure of the effective inertial mass of a system with two or more particles when the particles are interacting with each other. Reduced mass allows the two-body problem to be solved as if it were a one-body problem.