Fields: Gravitation Flashcards
What is gravitational force?
attractive force that acts between all masses.
What is Newton’s law of gravitation?
The gravitational force between two point masses is proportional to the product of the masses and inversely proportional to the square their separation
Negative and Positive sign means?
Negative is Attractive
Positive is Repulsive
What is gravitational field?
The area around a mass where any other mass will experience a force
2 Factors that affect gravitational field strengths
radius of planet
mass of planet
What is gravitational potential?
The work done per unit mass against the field to move a point mass from infinity to that point
The gradient of V/r graph is? How to find?
g, gravitational field strength. We draw a tangent at that point
Units for gravitational potential
JKg-1
Units for gravitational potential
JKg-1
Why is gravitational potential always negative?
It is defined as zero at infinity.
Since the gravitational force is attractive, work must be done on a mass to reach infinity
What is equipotential?
Surface of constant potential
Relationship between equipotential and radial field
Right angle
