Flashcards

Newton's law of gravitation: force, G and inverse square

lthistlewood2013 English 8 cards

Cards in this deck (8)

1State Newton's law of gravitation in words.Newton's law of gravitation states that
'the gravitational force between two point masses is directly proportional to the product of the masses, and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them'.
2State the equation that describes the gravitational force between two point masses.
3What name is given to the constant 'G' in this equation.G is called the 'Universal gravitational constant' (or, informally, 'big G')
4What is the significance of the minus sign in this equation?The minus signs tells us that the force between two masses is attractive.
5What happens to the force between two masses when the distance between them is doubled?Doubling the distance r reduces the force to one quarter of its original value.
6According to this equation, what is the range of a gravitational force?Gravitational forces have infinite range.
7What happens to the force between two masses when both masses double in size, and the distance between them is also doubled?Doubling the distance r reduces the force to one quarter of its original value. However, doubling both masses by itself would increase the force by four times. The overall effect is that there is no change in the force.
8Re-arrange this equation to determine the unit of G.