Gravitation

Question 1

Newton’s law of gravitation

Answer 1

The gravitational force of attraction between two point masses is known to be directly proportional to the product of the masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centres

Question 2

Define Gravitational potential

Answer 2

The Amount of work done in moving a unit mass from infinity to any point within the gravitational field

Question 3

What is the significance of the negative sign

Answer 3

🔺gravitational field is of an attractive force
🔺This implies that Work is done by the field in moving any mass towards the source mass
🔺This work done by the field represents a loss of energy which is signified by a negative sign

Question 4

Escape velocity

Answer 4

The minimum velocity with which an object must be projected from the earth’s surface so that it can escape the earth’s gravitational field