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Gravity is measured by the acceleration that it gives to freely falling objects. At Earth ’s surface the acceleration of gravity is about 9.8 meters (32 feet) per second per second. Thus, for every second an object is in free fall, its speed increases by about 9.8 meters per second.
Since a body of mass M experiencing a force F accelerates at a rate F/M, a force of gravity proportional to M would be consistent with Galileo’s observation that all bodies accelerate under gravity toward Earth at the same rate, a fact that Newton also tested experimentally.
Newton’s law of gravitation, statement that any particle of matter in the universe attracts any other with a force varying directly as the product of the masses and inversely as the square of the distance between them.
In principles of physical science: Law of gravitation …accelerate equally implies that the gravitational force causing acceleration bears a constant relation to the inertial mass.
Gravity - Acceleration, Earth, Moon: The value of the attraction of gravity or of the potential is determined by the distribution of matter within Earth or some other celestial body. In turn, as seen above, the distribution of matter determines the shape of the surface on which the potential is constant.
The acceleration A of a moving particle of negligible mass that interacts with a mass M, which is at rest, is given in the following formula, derived from Einstein’s gravitational theory. The expression for A now has, as well as the Newtonian expression from equation ( 1 ), further terms in higher powers of G M /R 2 —that is, in G 2 M 2 /R 4 .
Gravity - Experimental Study, Newton, Einstein: The essence of Newton’s theory of gravitation is that the force between two bodies is proportional to the product of their masses and the inverse square of their separation and that the force depends on nothing else.
In Newton’s law of universal gravitation, the attractive force between two objects (F) is equal to G times the product of their masses (m 1 m 2) divided by the square of the distance between them (r 2); that is, F = Gm 1 m 2 /r 2. The value of G is (6.6743 ± 0.00015) × 10 −11 m 3 kg −1 s −2.
acceleration, rate at which velocity changes with time, in terms of both speed and direction. A point or an object moving in a straight line is accelerated if it speeds up or slows down. Motion on a circle is accelerated even if the speed is constant, because the direction is continually changing.
Galileo found that gravity imposes a constant acceleration on all objects regardless of mass. That is, no matter how large or small an object is, it will fall at the same rate of acceleration. On Earth this acceleration is 32 feet (9.75 meters) per second per second.