Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation
Law of Gravitation The law of gravitation states: Every single particle in the universe exerts an attractive, invisible, non-contact force on every other particle Force of gravitation is determined by the distance (radius) between the masses and the magnitude of the masses
Law of Gravitation *The gravitational force between two masses is directly proportional to the product of their masses *The gravitational force between two masses varies inversely to the square of the distance between the centers of the masses
Calculating Gravitational Force
Gravitational Constant – Cavendish’s Experiment By measuring the angle of rotation, he was able to determine the force Knowing the masses and the distances between them, he was able to calculate G
Sample Problem Calculate the gravitational force between two objects when they are 7.50x10 –1 m apart. Each object has a mass of 5.00x101kg.
Sample Problem Calculate the gravitational force on a 6.0 x 102 kg spacecraft that is 1.6x104 km above the surface of the Earth.
Homework p. 85 #1-13