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2/27/2017 Newton'sLawofUniversalGravitation

CircularMotionandSatelliteMotionLesson3UniversalGravitation

Newton'sLawofUniversalGravitation
GravityisMoreThanaName
TheApple,theMoon,andtheInverseSquareLaw
Newton'sLawofUniversalGravitation
CavendishandtheValueofG
TheValueofg

AsdiscussedearlierinLesson3,IsaacNewtoncomparedtheaccelerationofthemoontothe
accelerationofobjectsonearth.Believingthatgravitationalforceswereresponsibleforeach,Newton
wasabletodrawanimportantconclusionaboutthedependenceofgravityupondistance.This
comparisonledhimtoconcludethattheforceofgravitationalattractionbetweentheEarthandother
objectsisinverselyproportionaltothedistanceseparatingtheearth'scenterfromtheobject'scenter.
Butdistanceisnottheonlyvariableaffectingthemagnitudeofagravitationalforce.ConsiderNewton's
famousequation
Fnet=ma
Newtonknewthattheforcethatcausedtheapple'sacceleration(gravity)mustbedependentuponthe
massoftheapple.Andsincetheforceactingtocausetheapple'sdownwardaccelerationalsocauses
theearth'supwardacceleration(Newton'sthirdlaw),thatforcemustalsodependuponthemassofthe
earth.SoforNewton,theforceofgravityactingbetweentheearthandanyotherobjectisdirectly
proportionaltothemassoftheearth,directlyproportionaltothemassoftheobject,andinversely
proportionaltothesquareofthedistancethatseparatesthecentersoftheearthandtheobject.


TheUNIVERSALGravitationEquation
ButNewton'slawofuniversalgravitationextendsgravitybeyondearth.Newton'slawofuniversal
gravitationisabouttheuniversalityofgravity.Newton'splaceinthe GravityHallofFame
isnotdueto
hisdiscoveryofgravity,butratherduetohisdiscoverythatgravitationisuniversal.ALLobjectsattract
eachotherwithaforceofgravitationalattraction.Gravityisuniversal.Thisforceofgravitational
attractionisdirectlydependentuponthemassesofbothobjectsandinverselyproportionaltothe
squareofthedistancethatseparatestheircenters.Newton'sconclusionaboutthemagnitudeof
gravitationalforcesissummarizedsymbolicallyas

Sincethegravitationalforceisdirectlyproportionaltothemassofbothinteractingobjects,more
massiveobjectswillattracteachotherwithagreatergravitationalforce.Soasthemassofeitherobject
increases,theforceofgravitationalattractionbetweenthemalsoincreases.Ifthemassofoneofthe
objectsisdoubled,thentheforceofgravitybetweenthemisdoubled.Ifthemassofoneoftheobjects
istripled,thentheforceofgravitybetweenthemistripled.Ifthemassofbothoftheobjectsis
doubled,thentheforceofgravitybetweenthemisquadrupledandsoon.
Sincegravitationalforceisinverselyproportionaltothesquareoftheseparationdistancebetweenthe
twointeractingobjects,moreseparationdistancewillresultinweakergravitationalforces.Soastwo
objectsareseparatedfromeachother,theforceofgravitationalattractionbetweenthemalso
decreases.Iftheseparationdistancebetweentwoobjectsisdoubled(increasedbyafactorof2),then
theforceofgravitationalattractionisdecreasedbyafactorof4(2raisedtothesecondpower).Ifthe
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separationdistancebetweenanytwoobjectsistripled(increasedbyafactorof3),thentheforceof
gravitationalattractionisdecreasedbyafactorof9(3raisedtothesecondpower).


ThinkingProportionallyAboutNewton'sEquation
TheproportionalitiesexpressedbyNewton'suniversallawofgravitationarerepresentedgraphicallyby
thefollowingillustration.Observehowtheforceofgravityisdirectlyproportionaltotheproductofthe
twomassesandinverselyproportionaltothesquareofthedistanceofseparation.


Anothermeansofrepresentingtheproportionalitiesistoexpresstherelationshipsintheformofan
equationusingaconstantofproportionality.Thisequationisshownbelow.

Theconstantofproportionality(G)intheaboveequationisknownastheuniversalgravitation
constant.TheprecisevalueofGwasdeterminedexperimentallybyHenryCavendishinthecentury
afterNewton'sdeath.(ThisexperimentwillbediscussedlaterinLesson3.)ThevalueofGisfoundto
be
G=6.673x1011Nm2/kg2
TheunitsonGmayseemratheroddnonethelesstheyaresensible.WhentheunitsonGare
substitutedintotheequationaboveandmultipliedbym1m2unitsanddividedbyd2units,theresult
willbeNewtonstheunitofforce.


UsingNewton'sGravitationEquationtoSolveProblems
KnowingthevalueofGallowsustocalculatetheforceofgravitationalattractionbetweenanytwo
objectsofknownmassandknownseparationdistance.Asafirstexample,considerthefollowing
problem.
SampleProblem#1
Determinetheforceofgravitationalattractionbetweentheearth(m=5.98x1024kg)anda
70kgphysicsstudentifthestudentisstandingatsealevel,adistanceof6.38x106mfrom 2/4
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earth'scenter.
ThesolutionoftheprobleminvolvessubstitutingknownvaluesofG(6.673x1011Nm2/kg2),m1(5.98
x1024kg),m2(70kg)andd(6.38x106m)intotheuniversalgravitationequationandsolvingforFgrav.
Thesolutionisasfollows:



SampleProblem#2
Determinetheforceofgravitationalattractionbetweentheearth(m=5.98x1024kg)anda
70kgphysicsstudentifthestudentisinanairplaneat40000feetaboveearth'ssurface.This
wouldplacethestudentadistanceof6.39x106mfromearth'scenter.
ThesolutionoftheprobleminvolvessubstitutingknownvaluesofG(6.673x1011Nm2/kg2),m1(5.98
x1024kg),m2(70kg)andd(6.39x106m)intotheuniversalgravitationequationandsolvingforFgrav.
Thesolutionisasfollows:


Twogeneralconceptualcommentscanbemadeabouttheresultsofthetwosamplecalculationsabove.
First,observethattheforceofgravityactinguponthestudent(a.k.a.thestudent'sweight)islessonan
airplaneat40000feetthanatsealevel.Thisillustratestheinverserelationshipbetweenseparation
distanceandtheforceofgravity(orinthiscase,theweightofthestudent).Thestudentweighslessat
thehigheraltitude.However,amerechangeof40000feetfurtherfromthecenteroftheEarthis
virtuallynegligible.Thisaltitudechangealteredthestudent'sweightchangedby2Nthatismuchless
than1%oftheoriginalweight.Adistanceof40000feet(fromtheearth'ssurfacetoahighaltitude
airplane)isnotveryfarwhencomparedtoadistanceof6.38x106m(equivalenttonearly20000000
feetfromthecenteroftheearthtothesurfaceoftheearth).Thisalterationofdistanceislike adropin
abucket whencomparedtothelargeradiusoftheEarth.Asshowninthediagrambelow,distanceof
separationbecomesmuchmoreinfluentialwhenasignificantvariationismade.

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Thesecondconceptualcommenttobemadeabouttheabovesamplecalculationsisthattheuseof
Newton'suniversalgravitationequationtocalculatetheforceofgravity(orweight)yieldsthesame
resultaswhencalculatingitusingtheequationpresentedinUnit2:
Fgrav=mg=(70kg)(9.8m/s2)=686N
Bothequationsaccomplishthesameresultbecause(aswewillstudylaterinLesson3)thevalueofgis
equivalenttotheratioof(GMearth)/(Rearth)2.

TheUniversalityofGravity
Gravitationalinteractionsdonotsimplyexistbetweentheearthandotherobjectsandnotsimply
betweenthesunandotherplanets.Gravitationalinteractionsexistbetweenallobjectswithanintensity
thatisdirectlyproportionaltotheproductoftheirmasses.Soasyousitinyourseatinthephysics
classroom,youaregravitationallyattractedtoyourlabpartner,tothedeskyouareworkingat,and
eventoyourphysicsbook.Newton'srevolutionaryideawasthatgravityisuniversalALLobjectsattract
inproportiontotheproductoftheirmasses.Gravityisuniversal.Ofcourse,mostgravitationalforces
aresominimaltobenoticed.Gravitationalforcesareonlyrecognizableasthemassesofobjects
becomelarge.

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