Universal Gravitation

Newton's law of UNIVERSAL gravitation states that every object in this universe attracts every OTHER object

with a force which is DIRECTLY proportional to the product of their masses and INVERSELY proportional to the square of distance between their centers.

In modern language, the law states the following:

where: F is the magnitude of the gravitational force between the two point masses,

G is the gravitational constant, where: G is the gravitational constant,

m1 is the mass of the first mass, where: m1 is the mass of the first mass,

m2 is the mass of the second mass, and where: m2 is the mass of the second mass, and

d is the distance between the two masses. where: d is the distance between the two masses.

F is measured in NEWTONS (N), m1 and m2 in kilograms (kg), d in meters (m), and the constant G is approximately equal to 6.673×10−11 N m2 /kg2.

The value of the constant G was first accurately determined from the results of the Cavendish experiment conducted by the British scientist HENRY CAVENDISH in 1798.

Describe the Cavendish experiment and how it calculated the value for G.