Gravitational Fields

Gravitational Fields

1. What is Gravity?

   • Gravity is the force that causes 2 masses to attract to each other
   • Because of gravity, dust particles attracted towards each other, eventually forming stars and galaxies.

2. Newton's law of gravitation

   • A particle with mass will generate a gravitational field around it. A particle that has a mass will feel a force when in this gravitational field
     • Unlike electric fields, gravitational fields are always attractive
   • The force experienced (F) by an object in a gravitational field is the product of its mass (m) and the gravitational field strength (g)
     • We can use newtons 2nd law (f=ma) to create an equation where we can find the acceleration of a particle inside a gravitational field
   • Newton then came up with an equation to calculate the gravitational force between 2 massive particles (f), separated a distance r, between their centres of gravity

3. Gravitational Field Strength

   • A Gravitational field is produced radially around a point mass. The further away from the mass, the greater the strength of the field. This leads to there being regions in space where there is 0 gravity
     • We can use newton's law of gravitation to derive an equation for the gravitational field strength.

4. Gravitational Potential

   • Gravitational potential is the amount of work done to move an object to a certain point in a gravitational field.

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