Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation

Kepler’s Three Laws of Planetary Motion Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) – Danish astronomer who dedicated much of his life to accurately collecting astronomical data Built the finest observatory at the time on the island of Hven and charted the movements of the planets and stars for 20 years

Kepler’s Three Laws of Planetary Motion In 1597 Johannes Kepler(1571-1630) became an assistant of Brahe in Prague Kepler attempted to use Geometry and Mathematics to describe a heliocentric (sun-centered) system that would agree with Brahe’s Data Result: Kepler’s Three Laws of Planetary Motion

Kepler’s Three Laws of Planetary Motion The path of the planets around the sun are ellipses with the sun at one of the focus points Consequence: The planets traveling in their orbits are sometimes closer to the sun and other times further away Note: The orbits are only slightly elliptical. They are close to circular.

Kepler’s Three Laws of Planetary Motion The planets sweep out equal areas in equal time intervals no matter how close or far away a planet is from the sun Consequence: Planets speed up as they move closer to the sun and slow down as they move further away

Kepler’s Three Laws of Planetary Motion 3. The ratio of the squares of the Periods of any two planets going around the sun is equal to the ratio of the cubes of their Average Distances away from the sun. Consequence: Planets that are farther away from the sun have a longer Period of Revolution

Equation for Kepler’s Third Law Kepler’s 3rd Law can be written in an equation form. (Ta)2 = (Ra)3 (Tb)2 (Rb)3 Kepler’s 3rd law applies to any two objects going around a third central object! (2 planets around the sun or 2 moons around a planet)

Astronomical Units (A.U.) The average distance between the Earth and the Sun is dE-S = 1.5 x 1011 m To avoid using large numbers and exponents in calculations scientists have developed the Astronomical Unit (A.U.) 1 A.U. = 1.5 x 1011 m dE-S = 1A.U.

History of Universal Gravitation Greeks (Aristotle and Ptolemy) – Geocentric Model Copernicus – Heliocentric Model Galileo – Discoveries with his telescope Kepler – Three Laws of Planetary Motion

History of Universal Gravitation After Galileo and Kepler, the heliocentric model gained acceptance but scientists still did not know what causes the motion of the planets! The stage was set in 1666 for Issac Newton to use his concept of a force and his Three Laws of Motion to explain the force behind planetary motion

Universal Gravitation Newton named this force Gravity He suggested Gravity is a force of attraction between any two masses and that each mass pulls on the other with an equal and opposite force

Universal Gravitation The Force of Gravity is directly proportional to the mass of each object F a m The Force of Gravity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the center of the masses F a 1/d2 (Inverse Square Law)

Gravitation Every object with mass attracts every other object with mass. Newton realized that the force of attraction between two massive objects: Increases as the mass of the objects increases. Decreases as the distance between the objects increases.

Law of Universal Gravitation M1M2 r2 FG = G G = Gravitational Constant G = 6.67x10-11 N*m2/kg2 M1 and M2 = the mass of two bodies r = the distance between them

Law of Universal Gravitation The LoUG is an inverse-square law: If the distance doubles, the force drops to 1/4. If the distance triples, the force drops to 1/9. Distance x 10 = FG / 100.

Law of Universal Gravitation

Law of Universal Gravitation Jimmy is attracted to Betty. Jimmy’s mass is 90.0 kg and Betty’s mass is 57.0 kg. If Jim is standing 10.0 meters away from Betty, what is the gravitational force between them? FG = GM1M2 / r2 FG = (6.67x10-11 Nm2/kg2)(90.0 kg)(57.0 kg) / (10.0 m)2 FG = (3.42x10-7 Nm2) / (100. m2) FG = 3.42x10-9 N = 3.42 nN In standard terms, that’s 7.6 ten-billionths of a pound of force.

Law of Universal Gravitation The Moon is attracted to the Earth. The mass of the Earth is 6.0x1024 kg and the mass of the Moon is 7.4x1022 kg. If the Earth and Moon are 345,000 km apart, what is the gravitational force between them? FG = GM1M2 / r2 FG = (6.67x10-11 Nm2/kg2) FG = 2.49x1020 N (6.0x1024 kg)(7.4x1022 kg) (3.45x108 m)2

Gravitational Field Gravitational field – an area of influence surrounding a massive body. Field strength = acceleration due to gravity (g). g = GM / r2 Notice that field strength does not depend on the mass of a second object. GM1M2/r2 = M2g = FG = Fw So gravity causes mass to have weight.

Gravitational Field Strength The mass of the Earth is 6.0x1024 kg and its radius is 6378 km. What is the gravitational field strength at Earth’s surface? g = GM/r2 g = (6.67x10-11 Nm2/kg2)(6.0x1024 kg) / (6.378x106 m)2 g = 9.8 m/s2 A planet has a radius of 3500 km and a surface gravity of 3.8 m/s2. What is the mass of the planet? (3.8 m/s2) = (6.67x10-11 Nm2/kg2)(M) / (3.5x106 m)2 (3.8 m/s2) = (6.67x10-11 Nm2/kg2)(M) / (1.2x1013 m2) (4.6x1013 m3/s2) = (6.67x10-11 Nm2/kg2)(M) M = 6.9x1023 kg

Variations in Gravitational Field Strength

Things Newton Didn’t Know Newton didn’t know what caused gravity, although he knew that all objects with mass have gravity and respond to gravity. To Newton, gravity was simply a property of objects with mass. Newton also couldn’t explain how gravity was able to span between objects that weren’t touching. He didn’t like the idea of “action-at-a-distance”.

Discovery of Neptune Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation did a very good job of predicting the orbits of planets. In fact, the LoUG was used to predict the existence of Neptune. The planet Uranus was not moving as expected. The gravity of the known planets wasn’t sufficient to explain the disturbance. Urbain LeVerrier (and others) predicted the existence of an eighth planet and worked out the details of its orbit. Neptune was discovered on September 23, 1846 by Johann Gottfried Galle, only 1º away from where LeVerrier predicted it would be.

Precession of Perihelion Newton’s Law has some flaws, however: It does not predict the precession of Mercury’s perihelion, nor does it explain it. All planets orbit the Sun in slightly elliptical orbits. Mercury has the most elliptical orbit of any planet in the solar system (if you don’t count Pluto). The closest point in Mercury’s orbit to the Sun is called the perihelion. Over long periods of time, Mercury’s perihelion precedes around the Sun. This effect is not explainable using only Newtonian mechanics.

Precession of Mercury’s Perihelion The eccentricity of Mercury’s orbit has been exaggerated for effect in this diagram.

Other Things Newton Didn’t Know Newton didn’t know that gravity bends light. This was verified by the solar eclipse experiment you read about earlier this year. He also didn’t know that gravity slows down time. Clocks near the surface of Earth run slightly slower than clocks higher up. This effect must be accounted for by GPS satellites, which rely on accurate time measurements to calculate your position.

Einstein and Relativity Einstein’s theory of relativity explains many of the things that Newtonian mechanics cannot explain. According to Einstein, massive bodies cause a curvature in space-time. Objects moving through this curvature move in locally straight paths through curved space-time. To any observer inside this curved space-time, the object’s motion would appear to be curved by gravity.

Curvature of Space-Time

Curvature of Space-Time

Gravity: Not So Simple Anymore According to Einstein, gravity isn’t technically a force. It’s an effect caused by the curvature of space-time by massive bodies. Why treat it as a force if it isn’t one? Because in normal situations, Newton’s LoUG provides an excellent approximation of the behavior of massive bodies. And besides, using the LoUG is a lot simpler than using the theory of relativity, and provides results that are almost as good in most cases. So there.